Grace Heldridge is an American mezzo-soprano from Omaha, Nebraska, and a current member of the Internationales Opernstudio at the Komische Oper Berlin. In her second season with the company, she performs as Flora Bervoix in La Traviata, Die junge Frau/Alto Soloist in Don Giovanni/Requiem, Ysätters-Kajsa/Bäuerin in Nils Holgerssons Wundersame Abenteuer, a Slave in Salome, and Orlando’s Girlfriend in the German premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Orlando. Additionally, she will be featured in the Queen of Love and Metamorphosen concerts.
​​Last season, Grace made her European Debut as Windhexe/Gemüsefrau in Wittenbrink's Die Kleine Hexe, Amy Lawrence in Kurt Weill's Tom Sawyer, and originated the role of Nes in the world premiere of Consistent Fantasy is Reality —a new psychedelic space opera co-produced by the Komische Oper Berlin and NEST at the Wiener Staatsoper. ​​​​
In the summer of 2024, Heldridge joined Opera Maine as a Studio Artist, performing as Performer #2 in Ricky Ian Gordon and Mark Campbell’s Rappahannock County. She previously trained as a Bonfils-Stanton Apprentice Artist at Central City Opera, where she received the Cady Young Artist Award, and as a two-time Emerging Artist at the Seagle Festival.
The 2023/24 season brought a wide range of concert and stage appearances across the country, including Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem in D-minor with the Glens Falls Symphony, Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 with The Trinity Choir, and FUSE: Collaborations in Song with Catalyst New Music. ​​
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Grace was a 2025 Semi-Finalist in both the Antonio Cesti International Baroque Singing Competition at the Innsbrucker Festwochen Der Alten Musik, and The London Handel Festival's International Handel Singing Competition, as well as a prize winner at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg International Vocal Competition. Previous competition successes include First Prize in the Wilkinson Young Singers Fund Competition, the Tulsa District Encouragement Award at The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and First-Prize Winner of the Barbara Rondelli Statewide Vocal Competition.
Heldridge holds a Master of Music in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied with Rebecca Folsom and was the Miles A. Fish III Scholar. She received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The University of Kansas, studying under Joyce Castle, and was awarded the Haven Preyer Award for Voice. During her studies, Grace performed a wide range of roles, including Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Sesto in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Lazuli in L’Étoile, Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hannah Older in As One, Mrs. Ott in Susannah, Nancy in Albert Herring, Annio in La clemenza di Tito, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Judge Dodsworth in Matthew Peterson's Voir Dire.​