Shira Patchornik is an Israeli soprano acclaimed for her expressive artistry and versatility across Baroque, Classical, and modern repertoires. She has rapidly established herself on international stages, captivating audiences with her dynamic performances and exceptional musicality.
Upcoming debuts for the rising star lyric soprano include appearances at the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci (cond. Dorothee Oberlinger, dir. Jean Renshaw) in A. Steffani's Orlando Generoso; Theater an der Wien in Bononcini's Griselda with the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Benjamin Bayl alongside Max Emanuel Cencic; and a return to the Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk, where she performs works by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach in the festival’s opening concert—her debut with Concentus Musicus (cond. Pablo Heras-Casado), broadcast live on Deutsche Grammophon’s Stage+. The following day, she debuts under the baton of Ottavio Dantone in a solo program with the Accademia Bizantina. In May, she will also debut at the National Theater in Prague as Folie in the acclaimed production of Rameau's Platée (cond. Václav Luks), filmed by Czech Television with a planned broadcast on ARTE.
Earlier in May, she was also heard with the CHAARTS Chamber Artists in Switzerland in Mozart's C Minor Mass, another orchestra she regularly collaborates with. Other notable upcoming debuts next season include a solo concert with the Italian ensemble Le Musiche Nove at the Vienna Musikverein (cond. Claudio Osele) in a program of Caldara; and at Théâtre La Monnaie in Brussels in Mozart's Idomeneo (new production by Calixto Bieito) under the baton of Enrico Onofri. Shira also has future projects with Andrea Marcon and La Cetra Baroque Orchestra—an ongoing collaboration since 2023—and she will return to the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik in 2026 in a staged production (cond. Ottavio Dantone).
Earlier this season, she was featured as soprano soloist in Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with Ensemble I Gemelli at the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence and other cities. She returned to the Händel-Festspiele in Karlsruhe to sing the role of Laodice in Handel's Siroe (cond. A. Cremonesi), and participated in a CD release tour for Vivaldi’s Arsilda with La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, performing in Amsterdam, Madrid, and Santander. This season she has also appeared as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Komische Oper Berlin and as Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Israeli Opera.
Other highlights in recent seasons include her debut at Winter in Schwetzingen as Adina in R. Kaiser’s opera Nebuchadnezzar with Dorothee Oberlinger (Theater Heidelberg). She has portrayed Anne Frank in Grigory Frid’s The Diary of Anne Frank at Teatro Regio di Torino, Soeur Constance and Susanna at the Israeli Opera, Contessa Bandiera in Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi at Theater an der Wien, and Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Bregenzer Festspiele. She also returned to the Bregenzer Festspiele in 2024 to premiere the opera Hold Your Breath, composed by Éna Brennan (dir. Sir David Pountney).
Shira is the first prize winner of two major Baroque competitions: Concours Corneille 2021 (Rouen, France, in association with Le Poème Harmonique – Vincent Dumestre) and the Antonio Cesti Competition 2021, where she also received the Audience Prize and several engagement prizes, including from the Konzerthaus Wien and Melk Festival (awarded by Michael Schade).
During the 2018–2020 seasons, she was a member of the ensemble at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where she debuted the roles of Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Micaëla (Carmen), and many others. Guest appearances include Morgana (Alcina) at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) at Theater Dessau, and Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe) at Theater Heidelberg.
Her higher education in opera was divided between Tel Aviv, where she studied with Prof. Sharon Rostorf-Zamir, and Leipzig, where she studied with Prof. Jeanette Favaro-Reuter. She was awarded the Jürgen E. Schmidt Prize at the Otto Edelmann Voice Competition in Vienna, second prize at the BMSOM Voice Competition in Israel (2016), and was a laureate of Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg. At the age of 19, she made her professional debut as Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Israeli Opera.
Shira's studies were supported by numerous foundations, including the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Meitar Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and an excellence scholarship from the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, awarded for her achievements.
Among Shira’s many talents, she also wrote and produced the libretto for Kind of Monster, a children’s opera for female children’s choir composed by prize-winning composer Ady Cohen, which premiered in Tel Aviv in summer 2024.