WHEN Sophie Salvesani steps onto the stage at St Paul’s Church tonight, it won’t just be another performance — it will be a homecoming.
The Ipswich-raised soprano, now based in Berlin and on the cusp of a major European operatic career, will return home with The Journey So Far, a special recital, tracing her remarkable path from local musical theatre to international opera stages.
A former Mt Crosby State School and West Moreton Anglican College student, Salvesani’s performing journey outside school began with Ipswich Musical Theatre Company in 2014, when she stepped into the role of Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera at the Ipswich Civic Centre.
“At the time, performing at the Civic Centre felt like what the Sydney Opera House feels like now,” she said. “It was something I never dreamed would happen.”
Alongside her musical pursuits, Salvesani balanced sport and competitive swimming, later training formally in flute and modern singing styles including pop and rock.
“People are often surprised by that,” she said. “But it gave me a love of all styles of music, and I still draw on that experience today.”
She later returned to the Civic Centre as Cosette in Les Misérables, before her career accelerated onto the national and international stage with Opera Australia. Cast as Maria in West Side Story, Salvesani toured Australia, New Zealand and Europe, performing in cities including Melbourne, Wellington, Berlin, Dresden and Cologne, before returning to Australia for performances at the Sydney Opera House.
It was during that period that her voice began to mature, prompting a gradual shift toward opera — a transition that would soon be tested by the global shutdown of live performance during COVID-19.
Rather than pause, Salvesani used the downtime to prepare.
“I learnt two entire operatic roles during that period,” she said. “I didn’t know when I’d use them — but two years later I stepped in to debut as Gilda with Opera Australia when a colleague became unwell.”
By the end of 2024, she made a bold decision to relocate to Berlin and immerse herself fully in Europe’s fiercely competitive operatic scene. The move proved transformative.
Salvesani enjoyed a standout 2025, winning two international operatic competitions — the Vienna Opera Competition and the Romana Vaccaro Opera Singing Competition.
This July, she will make her international opera debut as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, before commencing a contract with Deutsche Oper Berlin later this year.
Despite the accolades and international momentum, returning to Ipswich remains deeply important.
“The Ipswich community has followed my career from the very beginning,” she said.
Held in the acoustically rich St Paul’s Church — a venue closely tied to her school years — The Journey So Far will guide audiences from musical theatre favourites to operatic showpieces, performed unamplified and with storytelling at its heart.
“I want people to feel something,” she said.
“That’s why I do this.”
