About Krista
Krista's journey from a Bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary to the world of opera is a testament to her deep passion and determination. With an unwavering focus on honing her operatic voice, she achieved both Licentiate and Master’s degrees in Music from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and was a part of the prestigious Calgary Opera Emerging Artists Program.
In recent years, Krista has embraced her true calling within the soprano repertoire, passionately performing the music she has long yearned to share. In 2024, she brought to life the intense roles of Leonora in Il Trovatore with the Macedonian National Opera and Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco in Calgary.
Alberta audiences recall Krista’s "sultry" portrayal of Maddalena in Rigoletto with Edmonton Opera. At Calgary Opera she has performed in The Ballad of Baby Doe and What Brought us Here. Additionally Canadian performances include Carmen at Montreal Opera, Starmania at Québec Opera, Candide with Regina Symphony. Other roles include Concepcion (l’Heure Espagnole), Idamante (Idomeneo), Carmen (La Tragédie de Carmen), Dido (Dido and Aeneas) and Mignon (Mignon).
Opera Canada | Artists on Stage | 2019 Spring
Krista de Silva had a great uncle with a beautiful baritone voice whose operatic career was cut short by imprisonment during WWII. Despite this genetic link to opera, she didn’t grow up listening to classical music. Her close-knit family in Fort McMurray, Alberta, listened to R&B, jazz, reggae, and popular music recordings at dinner every night. “My dad played the guitar,” recalls de Silva. “He and I sang mostly Beatles tunes. My mother’s brother was a huge part of my musical knowledge; he had a very large collection of recordings in every genre of music and educated my brother and me about musicals, gospel and jazz.” De Silva had the added bonus of cultural exposure through extensive travel with her family visiting relatives in Italy, the Seychelles, England, Australia, and Austria as well as taking in other locales like Hawaii, Mexico, and China along the way.
When de Silva was ten years old, she entered herself in a music festival in Fort McMurray, and then started singing lessons at 13. She took a break from music and pursued a degree in Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, and after a brief stint playing volleyball at a small college in the United States, returned to Calgary to finish her degree. While there, she studied voice independently with Winston Noren who assigned de Silva her first opera aria, Violetta’s “Addio del passato.” “After that taste of opera, I just kept adding more arias,’’ she laughs.