Moldova born and Berlin native mezzo-soprano Alexandra Ionis studied at the Berlin Universität der Künste and the Milan Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Verdi and was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where she was taught by Renata Scotto among others.
Already during her studies she took part in Aribert Reimann's opera Melusine/Pythia at the Berlin UdK under Errico Fresis and Frank Hilbrich. Since then, her love of contemporary and modern music has been demonstrated numerous times, including in Widmann's Babylon and Reimann's Gespenstersonate/Mumie at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Britten's Death in Venice under Donald Runnicles and Graham Vick at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berg's Wozzeck/Margret at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia under James Gaffigan, in semi-staged performances of Zimmermann's Die Soldaten/Stolzius' Mutter with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and François-Xavier Roth (staging: Calixto Bieito) in Cologne, Hamburg and Paris, as well as the two world premieres Die Schneekönigin (Tischlerei der Deutschen Oper Berlin) and Subotnik (Neuköllner Oper) by the composer Samuel Penderbayne. In addition, she sang in the world premiere of Péter Eötvös' opera Sleepless at Staatsoper Unter den Linden (with revivals in Geneva and Budapest) and the world premiere of the children's opera Robin Hood/Nurse (M. dall'Ongaro) at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.
Further highlights in recent seasons include her debut as Fricka/Die Walküre in concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, her debut at the Bayreuth Festival 2024 as 2nd Norn/Götterdämmerung, Siegrune/Die Walküre (both under Simone Young) and as Mary in the children's opera Der fliegende Holländer, her Schwertleite/Walküre in the new RING production at Staatsoper Unter den Linden (staging: Dmitri Tcherniakov) under the baton of Christian Thielemann and Thomas Guggeis, the new production Elektra/3rd Magd (director: Philipp Stölzl) with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko in Baden-Baden and Berlin, 3rd Magd/Elektra at Staatsoper Stuttgart, Roßweiße/Walküre under Stefan Reck at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and under Juraj Val?uha at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Il viaggio a Reims/Maddalena and Il trovatore, both under Giacomo Sagripanti at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Maddalena at the Dresden Semperoper, Annina/Der Rosenkavalier at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (Simone Young/André Heller), as well as Annina/Rosenkavalier, Ulrica/Un ballo in maschera and Marcellina/Le nozze di Figaro at the Chemnitz Opera House.
Her concert repertoire includes works by Pergolesi, Bach, Rossini, Verdi, Mahler, Schönberg, Shostakovich, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov.
As of season 2023/24, Ionis is a member of the ensemble at Theater Bielefeld, where she could already be experienced as Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Anaide in Leoncavallo's Zazà, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff, Katerina (Magdalena) in Martin?'s The Greek Passion, Giulietta & Voice of the Mother in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Queen of Hearts in Pierangelo Valtinoni's Alice in Wonderland, among others.
Projects at her parent house in Bielefeld in the 2025/26 season include her debuts as Azucena in the new production Il trovatore, Mescalina in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre and Old Lady in a new production of Bernstein's Candide, as well as the revival of Alice in Wonderland /Queen of Hearts.
In addition, Ionis will make her debut as Princess Eboli/Don Carlo in Bari and return to Sydney, where for the first time she will perform Mahler's Song of the Earth with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young. Further, she can be heard in concerts with Verdi's Requiem in the Berlin Philharmonie and Dvorak's Requiem in Gütersloh.
Alexandra Ionis is a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Society since 2018.