South Carolina native Dr. Nakia Verner is praised for her sumptuous sound and spontaneous passion in recital performances, and operatic and theatre portrayals which have delighted listeners from San Francisco to Rome. Her notable roles include Mother in Hansel und Gretel, Madama Butterfly , the First Lady in Die Zaüberflote, , Magda in La Rondine, and the title role of Suor Angelica. Verner has also sung the role of Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte and the title role in Ariadne Auf Naxos.

Dr. Verner has degrees from Winthrop University (B.M.E.) , The University of Tennessee-Knoxville (M.M.-Voice), and the Peabody Conservatory (G.P.D.-Voice). Nakia graduated from The Catholic University of America with a D.M.A. in October 2014. Nakia has performed both the soprano and alto solo in the Verdi Requiem , Brahms Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th symphony, and the alto solo in Bach’s Magnificat. She performed the role of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in La Voix Humaine , Dottie in Finian’s Rainbow, and Bloody Mary in South Pacific. She is the winner of the George Woodhead prize for Voice, 1st place winner of both 2010 Washington Summer Opera Theater Scholarship Competition and the 2012 CUA Concerto Competition . Ms. Verner made her debut with Maryland Lyric Opera as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana in July 2014. In March 2016 and June 2017, Ms. Verner performed the Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with the Maryland Lyric Opera and the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Verner was an emerging artist with Maryland Lyric Opera from 2015-2017. Nakia played the role of Mother in Maryland Lyric Opera’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2016. Ms. Verner made her debut in the title role in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos in Berlin, Germany in August of 2017. She performs regularly with the Piedmont Symphony orchestra with her most recent performances being the alto solo in Handel’s Messiah and her 2019 concert of arias and duets entitled Celeste Voci. Ms. Verner is also a prominent recitalist performing on such concert series such as Levine Presents, CCBC Music Forum, PGCC Faculty Recital Series, and many others in the Mid-Atlantic, New York City, and the East Coast. Ms. Verner made her Richmond Symphony debut in August of 2022 singing the alto solo in Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Nakia will perform the roles of Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and Bloody Mary in South Pacific with Partners for the Arts and the Trinity Chamber Orchestra in June 2023.