Chelsea Burns is a multi award winning Australian soprano who is applauded for her bright, charismatic and character driven performances. Chelsea was a member of the Opera Australia Young Artist Program during 2025/2026, in which she performed the role of Elle (La Voix humaine). During her time with Opera Australia, Chelsea performed the roles of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni Touring Production) and Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), was the cover for Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and she has also appeared in multiple Great Opera Hits concerts.

In 2026, Chelsea was the winner of The Opera Foundation for young Australians’ Lady Fairfax La Scala Opera Award, which will see her going to cover, study and observe at La Scala in Milan from March to the end of June in 2027. In 2023, she was also the recipient of their Sundell American Institute of Musical Studies Award, which allowed her to go to Graz in Austria for two months of study.

Previously a Wesfarmers Arts Young Artist and Bendat Scholarship winner at West Australian Opera (WAO), she made her solo debut with the company in 2020 when she performed the role of Lucy in a filmed version of Menotti’s The Telephone. She has since made her main stage debut as Brigitte (Iolanta) and performed as Second Wood Sprite (Rusalka). At WAO, she was also the cover for Rusalka (Rusalka), Nedda (I Pagliacci) and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte). 

Chelsea completed a Master of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester, UK, where she graduated with a Distinction. During her time at the RNCM, she was a member of the Opera North Role Study and the Chorus Mentorship schemes, where she studied Kate Pinkerton in Tim Albery’s production of Madama Butterfly. She also attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Graduate Diploma in Opera.