Berna Perles

Biography Highlights

In the coming seasons, Spanish soprano Berna Perles continues to expand her repertoire with major role debuts, including Donna Elvira and Aida, marking a significant new chapter in her artistic development.

Spanish soprano Berna Perles has established herself as one of the most compelling voices of her generation. Her international career gained significant momentum in 2016, when she won first prize in three international singing competitions, following earlier tours in France performing the roles of Contessa and Donna Anna.
Recent seasons have seen a series of important role debuts and returns. She appeared as Norma in Norma at Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo (2022), Teatro Verdi in Pisa (2022), and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (2023). Her portrayal of Manon Lescaut in Manon Lescaut was heard at Baluarte in Pamplona (2021), Teatro Cervantes in Málaga (2024), and the Saaremaa Festival in Estonia (2024). She also performed Micaela in Carmen at Teatro Villamarta in Jerez (2023) and returned to the role at Baluarte (2024).
In 2025, her interpretation of Yerma in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ opera Yerma at Ópera de Tenerife received unanimous acclaim from both critics and audiences, marking a major milestone in her career.
She has appeared at leading opera houses including the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Teatro Real in Madrid, where her roles have included performances in Puccini’s Il trittico (cond. Susanna Mälkki), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte(cond. Gustavo Dudamel), and the Spanish premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian, which she also performed at the Peralada Festival.
A frequent guest at Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela, she has appeared in productions such as Entre Sevilla y Triana by Sorozábal (cond. Guillermo García Calvo), La revoltosa (cond. Óliver Díaz), and Jugar con fuego (cond. Álvaro Albiach).

Berna Perles has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, Marco Armiliato, John Axelrod, Andriy Yurkevych, Gustavo Gimeno, Junichi Hirokami, Pablo González, Víctor Pablo Pérez, Andrea Marcon, Manuel Hernández Silva, and Aarón Zapico.
She regularly performs with leading orchestras such as the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Navarra Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Community of Madrid.
Her discography includes a duets album with baritone Carlos Álvarez, with whom she also performed at the Dubai Expo, as well as the zarzuela El puñao de rosas with the Orquesta de Córdoba. Upcoming releases with IBS Classical include Falla’s La vida breve and Turina’s Margot.

Reviews & Press

Teatro Cervantes Malaga - Puccini- Manon Lescaut

Few theatres have resisted programming a Puccini title this year, marking the centenary of his death. The Cervantes Theatre in Málaga did so with the first success of the composer’s career, featuring a local star of the caliber of Berna Perles. She was the undisputed triumph of the evening. Her voice possesses those typically Italian qualities that make her ideal for Puccinian heroines: a bright timbre, a full-bodied sound, perfect projection, attention to phrasing and accents, and the ability to modulate the voice and adapt its color to the dramatic situation. She was equally convincing as the naïve young girl of the first act, the coquettish and carefree courtesan, and the desperate lover of the final act. Particularly beautiful was the softness with which she approached “In quelle trine morbide,” while in “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” she was deeply moving. And this despite the staging not making things easy for her throughout the evening—having her sing her final aria lying on her back on the floor, or placing the cage with the other prisoners in the third act at the back of the stage, from where she could barely be heard.

 

- Andrés Moreno Mengíbar , Beckmesser

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As for the protagonist, it must be said that Berna Perles was outstanding in her theatrical development: from the seductive youth she conveyed in the first act, to the voluptuous languor of the second—shaped with broad expressive possibilities—and finally to the sense of existential annihilation expressed in the last two acts, which require an actress of great caliber, one whose gesture, physicality, and diction become a form of singing. The lyric-dramatic assurance she displayed throughout turned her performance into a demonstration of the high artistic level this soprano has reached, confirming that she is in a truly pivotal phase of her career. As the central focus of the production, she had her first opportunity to prove it in the aria “In quelle trine morbide,” where she musically conveyed Manon’s loneliness and longing for her beloved with great eloquence. Her commitment was richly rewarded in the long, static desert death scene alongside her beloved Renato, where she controlled her frantic agitation with vocal resources worthy of admiration—culminating in one of the finest performances I have witnessed from this singer, and establishing her as the true triumph of the evening.

 

- José Antonio Cantón , Codalario

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Teatro de la Maestranza - Bellini - Norma

The second cast, entrusted with only a single performance, was led by a pure lyric soprano such as Berna Perles, whose “Casta Diva” was met with resounding applause—certainly for its projection, but even more so for the beautiful, satin-like timbre of the Málaga-born singer.

 

- Ismael G. CABRAL , ÓPERA ACTUAL

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After the excellent performance of that trio of singers, there was some concern about the second cast—but also great curiosity as to how the Málaga-born Berna Perles, winner of the 2016 Voice Competition organized by the Friends of the Opera of Seville, would approach her Norma. She turned out to be the other great surprise. Her “Casta diva” was even more acclaimed than that of Yolanda Auyanet. Her duets with Adalgisa, sung by Andrea Niño, were of a very high standard, even if some of the Bogotá-born mezzo’s high notes sounded somewhat strained compared to the Italian’s natural ease.

 

- Jacobo Cortines , Scherzo

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Ópera de Tenerife - Villa-Lobos - Yerma

In the life of an opera singer, there are projects that mark a clear before and after. This Yerma is already a milestone in the professional development of Berna Perles. The Málaga-born soprano has delivered a memorable embodiment of Lorca’s character. With total commitment, throwing herself in without restraint, her unconditional emotional dedication to the role contrasts with the vocal control with which she approaches it—never forcing her instrument in the slightest, singing the part with her natural voice from beginning to end. We are, moreover, speaking of an almost impossible role to sing—not only because of its constant presence on stage, with hardly a moment to breathe, but also due to the wide range of registers it demands from the soprano. Villa-Lobos does not write for voices in an easy style, and it is all too easy to succumb to fatigue sooner or later. None of this happened in the case of Berna Perles, who impressed with her poise, determination, and authenticity. As I said, this Yerma already stands as a milestone in the annals of her professional career.

 

- Alejandro Martínez , Platea Magazine

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One must admire the exhausting dramatic and vocal commitment of the Málaga-born soprano Berna Perles, who demonstrated a deeply worked understanding of the protagonist—an extreme character representing a brutal tour de force—through which she conveyed all of Yerma’s pain and anguish in a performance that will be remembered and was met with cheers from an impassioned, standing audience at the end of the work. Her character, omnipresent on stage, must internalize the entire text of the play as well as the complex score, in which she sings long monologues combining spoken declamation and singing, alongside several extended duets with the two male characters—her husband, Juan, and her friend, Víctor. Perles brought clear diction and strong projection to a role that lies largely in the middle register but also demands depth in the lower range and a challenging upper register.

 

- Fernando Sans Rivière , Opera Actual

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...it has been the Málaga-born soprano Berna Perles who has had to grapple with a role that—like Elektra, Salome, and so many other iconic works of the lyric stage—demands 200%. Not only scenically and musically, but emotionally as well.

 

- Justo Romero , Beckmesser

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Stage Highlights

At a glance: Berna Perles: news & press

2026-04-07

Berna Perles joins TACT

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