Alexa Frankian, a Canadian soprano based in Oakville, is making her mark in the world of opera.
Alexa trained at the University of Toronto (BMus) and the Glenn Gould School (Artist Diploma), where she was the recipient of multiple awards and scholarships. She was a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, where she sang multiple roles.
Alexa performed in the North American premiere of the Yiddish opera Bas Sheve, and the Dora-nominated world premiere of Alice Ho’s The Monkiest King.
She went on to be accepted into the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco in 2024 and again in 2025.
There, she performed the role of Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème, as well as the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. During her second Merola season in 2025, she sang excerpts as the title role from Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Alice Ford from Verdi’s Falstaff and Fidelia from Puccini’s Edgar.
This year, 2026, is another year of growth and recognition for the young artist. Alexa was named the 2026 recipient of the Igor Gorin Memorial Award, given to young artists to help build their professional careers. She has also joined the renowned Adler Fellowship at San Francisco Opera.
Through April, she has been performing the role of Mimì in SFO’s production of Bohème Out of the Box, a travelling performance of the opera.
LV caught up with Alexa Frankian to talk about her career and more.
Alexa Frankian: The Interview
Did she always know she wanted to be an opera singer?
“I actually knew very early in life,” she says. “I was about 14 years old when I saw my first opera. I remember turning to my mom and saying — that’s what I want to do.”
She says her Mom called the Canadian Opera Company for advice right away, and whoever she spoke with recommended beginning with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company (CCOC).
“From that time, everything aligned around that goal,” she says.
She loved her time with the CCOC, and the opportunity it gave her to sing with people her own age throughout high school. “I really felt like that gave me a really amazing opportunity,” she says. “From a young age, I was already going on to these big stages.”
The CCOC, she notes, often performs in Canadian Opera Company productions, as well as occasionally with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It’s valuable stage experience for young singers, often performing in front of hundreds and even thousands of people.
She credits her time at CCOC for teaching her a great deal about not only musical skills, but discipline and stage craft — and more. “Having friends as a young teenager who were interested in opera.”
She attended Hitherfield School in Milton, where there was a robust theatre program. “I would always be in the plays,” she recalls. The school’s young artists were supported by teachers, and often got involved in competitions. “I was always in voice lessons,” she says. “I even used to sing to my teddy bears as a kid,” she laughs.
After high school came formal studies at the University of Toronto, then an Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory. “I just feel like I’m really grateful for each stage,” she says. “Then to the Merola Program.” In between summers at Merola, she studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
The post-graduate programs help in transitioning to mainstage work as an opera singer, and building a career as a young professional, a working singer. The opportunity is crucial to a singer’s development.
“To be able to really focus and hone my skills,” she says.
She describes it as holistic training. “We as people are our own instrument, and to be able to focus on our art,” she says. It’s also about learning to take in the ups and downs of a singer’s life. “Some days, if things are off, it’s not the end of the world.” Emotional support, and being able to cope with everyday issues along with building the trajectory of a long term career is important.
“It’s an incredible environment,” she says, “to grow as an artist while working in a major opera house. They help you to continue to refine repertoire,” she adds.
“It feels like this bridge between training and a long term career.”
Alexa Frankian sings “In uomini, in Soldati” from Così fan tutte:
Bohème Out of the Box
“What’s really exciting is, with San Francisco opera, they really love to engage the community,” she says. “They bring opera to people who wouldn’t go otherwise.”
Bohème Out of the Box travels around the city to bring the opera to the people, instead of the other way around.
“It’s 60 or 75 minutes,” she explains. “It’s a condensed version of Bohème.”
The performers are current and former Adler Fellows.
“Being able to sing Mimì is such a dream, because it’s something that I know — Mimì is going to be in my repertoire for a long time. It’s very surreal.”
She calls the SFO Out of the Box initiative a successful way of making opera more accessible.
“I think that’s what’s really important,” she says. “They’ve taken a shipping container and they travel to different parts of the Bay. It’s a really cool way to be able to show your community and be involved.”
Audiences often include families with children.
“It’s more of a modern look,” Alexa says. The production offers subtitles via your cell phone.
“I think that people talk about how can opera continue and how can it continue through the ages? This is a great way — also for singers to meet the community.”
In addition to Bohème Out of the Box, Frankian is performing smaller roles in mainstage productions throughout SFO’s season, as well as covering one major role.
The Future?
“I think the focus now is on really building a sustainable international career,” Frankian says.
That includes continuing to explore repertoire in order to find the right roles for herself both artistically and physically. “I think what I’m especially interested in is building a repertoire that offers […] big vocal abilities and also dramatic abilities.” She’d like to build a repertoire of five to ten major roles that she can tour with.
She says the directors of the Adler program describe her as a lyric soprano. “My voice is very warm, and it sounds like one of the older voices,” she says. Her own tastes run to Puccini, Verdi, and Mozart, along with others. “Singing these big verismo grande [roles],” she says, although she doesn’t want to limit herself only to that repertoire. Alexa says they’ve also described her as a “quasi spinto”, i.e. a singer whose voice bridges the lyric and dramatic soprano styles.
Frankian says that when she began to sing around friends and family, people would tell her they could not only hear her, but feel the vibrations. Her mother would tell anyone and everyone that she was an opera singer, and then they’d want to hear her perform. Alexa says it helped her overcome her early fears.
“When it was over, I’d look around, and a lot of people would be clapping and yelling, and have tears rolling down their face,” she says.
It’s about the power of the unamplified voice. “People can not only hear it, but really feel these vibrations.”
As to where she will perform in the future, like any young singer, she will consider any invitation. But, she’d love to sing closer to home.
“Continuing to perform in Canada is very important to me,” Alexa says.
She recognizes that, so far, each stage has been a stepping stone. “At each stage, I’ve been invited to take the next step.” An international career is the ultimate goal. “I’ll be performing wherever anyone will have me,” she says.
“That’s the plan.”
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