Victoria Harley is a dramatic coloratura soprano from Filey, North Yorkshire, currently based in Birmingham and studying with Amanda Roocroft. She is a 2024 Artist on the Serena Fenwick Programme with British Youth Opera. She is the winner of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Singing Prize and she was the 2023 recipient of the St Clare Barfield Rosebowl for Operatic Distinction at RBC. In July 2024 she was a Chorus Mentor in Birmingham Opera Company's production of Tippett's New Year, directed by Keith Warner and conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. 

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Victoria is a recent graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. During her time at RBC, she performed several lead roles in Opera Productions and Scenes. In Opera Productions she performed the title role in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (performed in English), Gertrud in Hansel and Gretel (performed in English), Noémie in Cendrillon and Nance Ferrell in Stephen McNeff’s Banished. Roles performed in RBC Opera Scenes include Vanessa (Vanessa, Barber), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw, Britten), Irma (Louise, Charpentier - covered and performed), Fiorlidigi (Così Fan Tutte), Marcellina (Le Nozze de Figaro), and Una Conversa (Suor Angelica, Puccini – covered and performed). On RBC Opera Productions and Scenes she has worked with directors Daisy Evans, Rebecca Meltzer and Sophie Gilpin, and conductors Paul Wingfield, Anthony Kraus and Ashley Beauchamp.

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Outside of RBC, she performed the role of La Fée in Massenet's Cendrillon (performed in English) with Bedfordshire Youth Opera. She was especially grateful for the opportunity to work with Rachel Nicholls, who was the production's vocal coach. She also performed the role of Musetta (La Bohème, Puccini) with City of Manchester Opera.

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Victoria also enjoys singing on the concert platform and has sung as the soprano soloist in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem and Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge and Mass in C Minor.

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​Victoria is passionate about contemporary opera, and debuted the role of Helena Handcart in the world premiere of Roger Simmonds' Fame and Envy with Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera, directed by Callie Nestlewroth (June 2023).  She also performed a chorus role (Tum-Tum) in the premiere of Philip Matty’s chamber opera The Jabberwocky, and Peter Bell and Alexander Kaniewski’s outdoor folklore and music project A Book of Portraits, in which the role of ‘The Lover’ was written for her.​

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At RBC, she has sung in masterclasses with David Butt Phillip, Jacques Imbrailo and Susan Bickley. On the Serena Fenwick Programme she received coaching from Allyson Devenish, David Gowland, Martin Pickard and Bence Kalo. She has also sung with Dylan Perez in the yearly Voxbox concert at RBC. Victoria was invited to sing in a masterclass at the North Wales Opera Studio with James Black in 2022. Also at RBC she has competed in several prizes, placing in the Ashleyan Opera Prize, the Edward Brooks Lieder and English Song Prizes and winning the Conservatoire Singing Prize.

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Before attending Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Victoria studied Music at the University of Huddersfield and a Masters in Musicology at the University of Manchester. While living in Manchester, she sang with the Manchester Chamber Choir and Halle Choir. A highlight of her time with the Halle Choir was singing at the BBC Proms in 2018. She also recently attended a short course at the National Opera Studio (2022).

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Outside of opera, Victoria has been performing with metal bands since 2015 and has toured the UK and Europe with several bands. Most recently she was the operatic vocalist with Necronautical and recorded an album with them, as well as touring and performing at some of the largest metal festivals in the UK.