Pia Davila is a versatile singer and artist. In addition to the always highly esteemed classical concert repertoire, she also acts as a strong proponent of new music theater forms, world premieres, new music and new ideas.
Within a short period of time, Pia Davila made a name for herself in notable productions. Her first opera engagements took her to the Städtische Bühne Osnabrück with Mozart and the world premiere of “Somnio ergo sum”. There followed engagements at Theater Bremen with the world premiere of “The Little Mermaid” and roles as Wagner’s Flower Maiden and Mozart’s Barbarina. At the Staatsoper Hamburg, she performed in several modern productions. Highlights among these include the “Ring and Wrestling” in the autumn of 2018 and Purcell’s “Fairy Queen”. In the summer of 2019, she sang two leading roles with the Dutch National Opera in “Aus Licht” by Karlheinz Stockhausen under the stage direction of Pierre Audi. This production was internationally well received. In January of 2020, she was again part of a world premiere with the work “Ein Geschäft mit Träumen” by the composer Alexandra Filonenko at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She enjoys a longstanding collaboration with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Stadtteiloper Bremen. Pia Davila is an award winner of the International Festival of Young Opera Singers at Schloss Rheinsberg. In 2019 she sang “Orfeo” with the LauttenCompagney.
Pia Davila maintains a busy concert schedule with oratorio performances in Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Sweden and Italy. In June of 2017, she received third place at the international Bach Competition “cantate Bach!” in Greifswald. Additionally she was an awardee at the 2017 PodiumJungerGesangssolisten in Magdeburg. In 2018, she received first place at the International Music Competition Gebrüder-Graun-Prize as well as the special prize of the Kulturfeste. She enjoys an active cooperation with the LauttenCompagney Berlin, the Schirokkoensemble, and the Capella Vitalis, among others. In June of 2019, she was invited to the Handel Festival in Halle for a concert with her quartet for saxophone, soprano and figured bass. She could be heard in the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Berlin Cathedral, the Laeiszhalle and the Elbphilharmonie. She is also a popular guest soloist in all of the main churches in northern Germany. In the spring of 2021, she will sing for the first time in the Frauenkirche in Dresden with Bach’s St. John Passion.
One particular focal point of her work is song repertoire. She can often be heard in recitals in northern Germany and Austria. Her achievements in this repertoire have been awarded with, for example, third place at the ninth international song duo competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music” in 2015, second place at the second “Gustav-Mahler-Liedwettbewerb” in 2016 and first place at the “Internationaler Wettbewerb für Verfemte Musik” in Schwerin in 2016. In October she sang at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna with her long-time piano duo partner Linda Leine, with whom she has also given several song recitals at the Liedwelt/Rheinwelt with songs from politically disallowed music. In 2020/2021 the duo will be devoting more attention to songs by Ursula Mamlok. In October of 2019, she made her debut in the Kleiner Saal of the Elbphilharmonie with a chamber music program by pianist Ragna Schirmer. In the January of 2021 she will release a CD together with song accompanist Eric Schneider. At the Heidelberger Frühling Festival she performed the Arabic part of “Divan of Song”, conceptualized and played on the piano by Prof. Burkhard Kehring.
Her work in the field of contemporary music continuously brings her together with new musicians on new stages. In 2020, she could be heard at the Warschauer Herbst with José M. Sánchez Verdú’s “Paraíso cerrado II” under the direction of Rüdiger Bohn. In 2019, she gave concerts of Joel Bons’ work “Thirty Situations” with the Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Verkadefabriek Hertogenbosch and the Sound of Music Festival in Groningen. In 2020 she sang two concerts at the blurred edges festival in Hamburg with world premieres and works by Cage and Ives. In 2020 she performed José M. Sánchez Verdú’s “Paraíso cerrado II” under the musical direction of Rüdiger Bohn at the Warschauer Herbst. At the end of October 2020, she sang a program of American repertoire with the multi-media artist Dong Zhou at the blurred edges Festival in Hamburg.
At the Resonanzraum Hamburg, she also sang the world premiere of the opera “ChatRoom” by Dong Zhou, “Starlings” by Pedro Gonzalez, composer for electronic music, the opera “Der Riss”, a world premiere by Jelena Dabic, the world premiere of the opera “Piano Tuner” by Yixuan Hu and “Obersalzberg” by Rudolf Kelber. Thus far, 15 works have been dedicated to Pia Davila. She regularly works closely with composers. For her new CD, she inspired award winner Aigerim Seilova to write three works based on texts by the author Katharina Schultens.
Born in Berlin, soprano Pia Davila was trained in classical guitar as a junior student at the Julius-Stern-Institut at the Berlin University of the Arts. Following her completion of secondary school, she decided to pursue a degree in voice. She then studied with Prof. Jörn Dopfer in Hamburg, where she finished her post-graduate degree (Konzertexamen) with honors in March of 2018. Subsequently, she completed her vocal training in Hamburg under Prof. Burkhard Kehring. In addition, she participated in master classes with Christiane Oelze, Ulla Groenewold, Prof. Eric Schneider, Margreet Honig, Deborah York, Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Hampson (Heidelberger Frühling), Christine Wolff, Norman Shetler and Peter Gülke (Heidelberger Frühling), among others. From 2015 to 2020, she took voice lessons from Christiane Oelze. She is currently being taught by Prof. Dr. Barbara Hoos de Jokisch.
Since July of 2017, Pia Davila has been a grant recipient of the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung. Previously she was supported by the Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung. In April of 2016, she was also a scholarship holder of the Lied Academy of the Heidelberger Frühling under the direction of Thomas Hampson. Additionally, she was a grantee of the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung and the Schloss Rheinsberg International Opera Academy. Since 2015 she has been a member of the LiveMusicNow association. In April of 2017, she received a grant from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg for a project which involved collaborating with refugees and composition students from the conservatory. Her work with refugees led to an invitation to the Federal President’s 2019 New Year’s Eve reception at the Bellevue Palace.