Anika Venkatesh is a genre-defying vocalist hailing from Coast Salish Territories and currently based in Tkarón:to, Ontario.
Of mixed Bengali and Tamil descent, Anika bridges art forms between being a solo vocalist, choral professional, theatre performer, and opera performer. Refusing to have their voice bound by range or fach, they are an early-career artist exploring the edges of contemporary performance art. Through musical storytelling, Anika hopes to garner curiosity, reflection, kindness, play, connection, tenderness, intimacy, and strength.
Anika was most recently one part of the six-member ensemble for the world premiere of Rolf Hind’s Sky in a Small Cage at the Copenhagen Opera Festival in August 2024 with Mahogany Opera, before debuting the show at the Barbican Centre in London, England, in September 2024.
Select stage credits include the world premiere of Quote Unquote Collective’s four-time Dora-nominated production Universal Child Care at Canadian Stage in association with Nightwood Theatre, Why Not Theatre, and the National Art Centre; “The House” (tenor) in Gareth Williams’ Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera, Crow’s Theatre); ensemble in the Toronto premiere of Angel’s Bone by composer Du Yun (Harbourfront Centre Theatre). Select concert credits include Arkora Music’s Toronto debut in Styx & Stones; James Rolfe’s Wound Turned to Light with Confluence Concerts; alto soloist in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard (Concreamus Chamber Choir); alto soloist in R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses (Nathaniel Dett Chorale & The Rochester Oratorio Society).
They are currently a Sidgwick Scholar with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto under the direction of Thomas Burton. Other choral ventures include singing with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, a choir which centres Afro-centric choral music, with Concreamus Chamber Choir, an ensemble dedicated to performing newly composed works of emerging Canadian composers, and with Babεl Chorus, which aims to create cultural understanding through choral music, the latter two ensembles with which they performed at the PODIUM Canada Conference (2024).
As a solo artist, Anika had the unique opportunity to work with Margo Garrett in the University of Toronto’s John R. Stratton Masterclass Series (2022-23), and with Judith Forst and Michael McMahon in the Nuova Vocal Arts Masterclass Series (2022).
Alongside their classical, operatic, and choral skillsets, Anika is also an R&B musician, amongst other contemporary genres. They are a founding member of Vancouver-based R&B collective, “Couch Jams,” a community collective dedicated to amplifying the voices of underrepresented BIPOC artists and musicians. Anika grew a quick following with their vocal trio TBD in October 2023 after the group began posting covers on social media with their intricate vocal arrangements (@tbdofficial_ on TikTok). Anika also performed at the Toronto Jazz Festival in June 2024 alongside Toronto-based musician Jennarie.
Anika is a 2023 Honours BMus graduate of the University of Toronto’s Classical Voice Performance program. They received several scholarships at U of T, including the Music Alumni Entrance Scholarship (2019), the Arthur Edward Redsell Scholarship for musical excellence in voice studies (2021), and the Mary Morrison Award in Voice for demonstrating excellence in both vocal talent and musicianship and showing vocal ability within a broad range of musical styles (2022).