Anika Venkatesh is a genre-defying vocalist hailing from Coast Salish Territories and currently based in Tkarón:to, Ontario.
Of mixed Bengali and Tamil descent, Anika bridges art forms between being a solo vocalist, choral professional, theatre performer, and opera singer. They are an early-career artist exploring the niche of contemporary music (and) theatre. Through musical storytelling, Anika hopes to garner curiosity, play, connection, tenderness, and strength.
Anika was most recently “The Cheshire Cat” and “Red Queen/Ruby” understudy in Bad Hats Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland on tour in the spring and summer of 2025. Prior to that they were one part of the six-member ensemble for the world premiere of Rolf Hind’s Sky in a Small Cage at the Copenhagen Opera Festival in August 2024 with Mahogany Opera, before debuting the show at the Barbican Centre in London, England, in September 2024.
Other select stage credits include the world premiere of Quote Unquote Collective’s four-time Dora-nominated production Universal Child Care at Canadian Stage in association with Nightwood Theatre, Why Not Theatre, and the National Art Centre; “The House” in Gareth Williams’ Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera, Crow’s Theatre). Select concert credits include soloist in the world premiere of Thierry Tidrow’s Glimmer with New Music Concerts; soloist in New Bad Ideas Live with Bad Hats Theatre; soloist and song poet in Sighs Too Deep for Words with Confluence Concerts; Arkora Music’s Toronto debut in Styx & Stones; alto soloist in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard (Concreamus Chamber Choir); alto soloist in R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses (Nathaniel Dett Chorale & The Rochester Oratorio Society).
Anika is a founding member of Silver Thread, a new Toronto-based professional chamber choral ensemble that garners a musical expertise ranging from renaissance to contemporary, with a keen interest in the works of young Canadian composers. They are also currently a Sidgwick Scholar with the Orpheus Choir of Toronto under the direction of Thomas Burton, and a professional member of Modern Sound Collective, a by-youth-for-youth choral organization that aims to share its singers’ love for contemporary choral music through sincere and passionate performances.. Other choral ventures include singing with the Soundstreams Choir 21 under conductor David Fallis, Concreamus Chamber Choir, an ensemble dedicated to performing newly composed works of emerging Canadian composers, and with Babεl Chorus, which aims to create cultural understanding through choral music, the latter two ensembles with which they performed at the PODIUM Canada Conference (2024).
As a solo artist, Anika had the unique opportunity to work with Margo Garrett in the University of Toronto’s John R. Stratton Masterclass Series (2022-23), and with Judith Forst and Michael McMahon in the Nuova Vocal Arts Masterclass Series (2022).
Alongside their classical, operatic, and choral skillsets, Anika is also an R&B singer, amongst other contemporary genres. They are a founding member of Vancouver-based R&B collective, “Couch Jams,” a community collective dedicated to amplifying the voices of underrepresented BIPOC artists and musicians. Anika grew a quick following with their vocal trio TBD in October 2023 after the group began posting covers on social media with their intricate vocal arrangements (@tbdofficial_ on TikTok), and the group continues to perform together live. Anika also performs with Toronto-based musician Jennarie, shows including Toronto Jazz Festival in June 2024 and Rooftop Revue in September 2025.
Anika is a 2023 Honours BMus graduate of the University of Toronto’s Classical Voice Performance program. They received several scholarships at U of T, including the Music Alumni Entrance Scholarship (2019), the Arthur Edward Redsell Scholarship for musical excellence in voice studies (2021), and the Mary Morrison Award in Voice for demonstrating excellence in both vocal talent and musicianship and showing vocal ability within a broad range of musical styles (2022).