Tharanga Goonetilleke

Soprano Tharanga Goonetilleke is a native of Sri Lanka who graduated from Juilliard with a Master of Music in voice and opera and an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies. She has a Bachelor of Music from Converse College (Spartanburg, South Carolina) with a minor in biology and is an associate of the Trinity College of Music, London.

Tharanga’s operatic experience includes the roles of Mimi in La bohème, Lauretta and Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Pamina and first lady in Die Zauberflöte, Linfea in La Calisto, the title role in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide, Despina in Così fan tutte, Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Venus in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante, Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and the princess and the bergère in L’enfant et les sortilèges. In 2010, Tharanga debuted with New York City Opera (NYCO) as Resi in Strauss’ Intermezzo, conducted by George Manahan, while understudying the role of Anna. She has since been invited back to sing Lucy in Treemonisha with NYCO Education and covered the role of Miss Jessel in its production of The Turn of the Screw. She is an active performer of both contemporary and the standard repertoire. Her most recent performances of contemporary work include prominent roles in Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War by Kirsten Volness and “Exagoge” by Avner Finberg

Tharanga takes on projects that infuse music with visual art and science and is moving forward in the hope of bringing the idea of collaborating different disciplines to create a fresh and more whole experience. In 2015, she became a TED Fellow and since has been invited to speak and/or perform at various TED and TED conferences.

Currently while pursuing a performance carrier she serves on the voice faculty at The Juilliard Extension division, at Wharton Arts in Berkeley Heights, NJ and at “Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard” for Nord Anglia schools.