Samantha Hankey

Samantha Hankey 2024-2025 season marks her debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in Mozart's Idomeneo, and with New National Theater Tokyo in the title role of Carmen. Hankey returns to Bayerische Staatsoper where she reprises the role of Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and performs as Donna Elvira in a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, part of the 2025 Munich Opera Festival.

Hankey made her debuts at London's Royal Opera House singing Dorabella in Così fan tutte; at Detroit Opera in the role of the Fox in Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen; and in a role debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She returned to Opernhaus Zürich for Così fan tutte; performed as a featured soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and appeared in recitals at Antwerp LiedFest and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In addition, she sang Octavian in the Metropolitan Opera’s Der Rosenkavalier, made her role and house debuts as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande in Netia Jones’ production at Santa Fe Opera, performed as Federico García Lorca in Golijov’s Ainadamar at Scottish Opera, and made her house debut as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

From 2019-21, Hankey held a full-time contract at the Bayerische Staatsoper. During the same season, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut, also appearing in major house debuts at Opernhaus Zürich, Den Norske Opera, Dallas Opera, and Grand Théâtre de Genève. 

On the concert stage, she has performed in solo recital at Wigmore Hall and sung the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro in Finland; also featuring in performances at the Bard Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hankey co-developed the lead roles in David Herzberg’s The Rose Elf and The Wake World, both of which received considerable praise, premieres, and CD recordings. She has also premiered new works with Opera Philadelphia and the Metropolitan Opera. 

Hankey’s career includes awards in a vast number of national and international competitions. In 2018, she won both first prize and the media prize at the inaugural Glyndebourne Cup, multiple prizes at the Operalia Competition, and a career grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

Hankey is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. A native of Massachusetts, she embraced her passion for music from an early age and pursued pre-college vocal training at the Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory. Learn more at www.samanthahankey.com.