For the 24-year old Namibian singer Janice van Rooy, classical music is more than just sound – it is the focal point around which her life is built. Janice was first exposed to music at the age of 10, taking up recorder and harmonica before she started refining her vocal talents in a children’s choir and the renowned Mascato Youth Choir. She is also a proficient violinist, having learnt to play this instrument under the late Heinz Czech.She formally started opera training during her final year of high school under Gretel Coetzee in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. Following her high school graduation, Janice’s opera career moved faster than ever with participation at the Immling Opera Festival in Bad Endorf, Germany. Here she filled chorus and support roles in addition to perfoming in chamber concerts.Janice was welcomed in Portugal shortly after to study under Peter Harrison before she passed her grade 8 singing and music theory exams with multiple distinctions from ABRSM-Royal Schools. 

She then went on to start her opera degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT) under Virginia Davids. Janice took part in a number of singing competitions and notably placed first at the Neues Lied Festival competition. Here she was also honoured with a special award for giving the best performance of a song by a South African composer. The passionate young singer was also active in university-led productions during her time at UCT, participating in the University of Cape Town baroque scenes where she, among others, portrayed the role of Dido in Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’. Her incredible talent also earned her the top spot at the Sultan of the Arts online singing competition. She was then also a finalist in the Friends of Cape Town opera Bursary competition. 

Janice remains dedicated to improving her craft, currently continuing her studies at the Musik Hochschule in Hannover under the guidance of Dr. Marek Rzepka. Shortly after her arrival in Hannover, Janice’s talents and dedication earned her the Opera Europa Eva Kleinitz Award 2023, The Ernst von Siemens Stiftung award 2023 and the Gundlach Musik Preis 2023. In the winter of 2023, she took part in the Walter und Charlotte Hamel competition and won the Nachwuchs preis for the best bachelor’s student and the audience prize. Janice most recently made her European operatic debut in September 2023 with the Berlin Radio Symphony orchestra where she sang the female lead role in the first Namibian opera “Chief Hijangua” by Eslon Hindundu. 

Almost immediately, her performance was met with stellar reviews. Taggeschau believes that she stood out from the ensemble saying; “Janice van Rooy, who sang the role of Matjiua with an unbelievably powerful soprano outshined the entire ensemble”. Opera Today lauded her ability to command a stage saying; “She fearlessly commanded the stage with a firm and resonant voice and a lot of attitude- both signs of potential as a future opera diva”.

During her time in Berlin she also had the honour of performing for the federal president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the senator of Berlin for arts and culture, alongside an array of VIP’s at the Bürgerfest at Schloss Bellevue. 

With all her success in Europe, Janice remains dedicated to uplifting young hopefuls in Namibia. She was an assistant lecturer to the Youth Orchestra at the Swakopmunder Musikwoche (Swakopmund Music Week). Between 2017 and 2019, she appeared as a guest soloist for the annual Baroque and Concerto Festivals in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek. Here, she was accompanied by the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of Alexander Fokkens. 

Janice, since her youth, has been known for her boundless passion for music, and specifically opera, since her youth. This exact passion is still a characteristic that her colleagues in music and her friends know her by.