Chelsea Guo

A very fine pianist with a beguiling voice, here is a rare talent. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

As both a pianist and a singer Chelsea Guo is clearly a special talent. GRAMOPHONE

With her natural musicality, compelling stage presence, and extraordinary versatility as both soprano and pianist, Chelsea Guo has made a name for herself on the opera and concert stage. In 2022, she became the first artist ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in both voice and piano. 

Having joined the Opernstudio of the Volksoper Wien in 2025, Chelsea Guo continues at the house in the 2026/27 season with roles including Maria in West Side Story, Musetta in La bohème, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Adele in Die Fledermaus. Alongside her opera engagements, she gives a series of piano and vocal recitals across the US, including at the University of Delaware, South Dakota State University, Newport Classical, and the Lied Center of Kansas. She also returns to the US as soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Chattanooga Symphony. At the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, she performs as both soprano and pianist in the Virtuosen-Varieté.

Chelsea Guo has performed as both soprano and pianist with a number of orchestras. At San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival, she sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 under Michael Francis and, two nights later, performed Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. With The Florida Orchestra, she performed de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain as pianist and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 as soprano. As a soprano, she has also performed Handel’s Messiah with the Richmond Symphony and Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with Filharmonia Gorzowska. As a pianist, she has been a featured artist at the Gilmore International Piano Festival.

In recital, Chelsea Guo has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Merkin Hall. Her recital work encompasses solo piano programmes, vocal recitals with pianist collaborators, and programmes in which she performs as both pianist and soprano. Her Young Concert Artists recital debuts at the Kennedy Center and Merkin Hall included works by Schubert, Ravel, Debussy, Strauss, and Chopin as well as Pauline Viardot’s arrangements of Chopin mazurkas.

Her debut album Chopin: In My Voice, released by Orchid Classics in 2021, likewise brings together Chelsea Guo’s work as pianist and soprano. The recording was selected as an ‘Essential New Album’ by Gramophone, while WQXR and Naxos China named it among their ‘Best Albums of the Month’. She was subsequently named one of Classic FM’s ‘Rising Stars: 30 Brilliant Musicians We’re Celebrating in 2022’.

Chelsea Guo has received recognition in both disciplines. As a pianist, she was a prizewinner at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition, while her vocal awards include prizes at the 2019 Schmidt Vocal Arts Competition and the 2019 National YoungArts competition, as well as an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In 2026, she was also a finalist for the Musikpreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, performing in both disciplines.

Born in New York and raised in Connecticut, Chelsea Guo studied at The Juilliard School, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance in 2024. Her teachers have included Hung-Kuan Chen in piano and Jason Ferrante in voice.

2026/27 season

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