Exposed, intelligent, earnest… powerful and persuasive.

— THE NEW YORK TIMES

Danielle Birrittella is a California-based performer, composer, and creator of new operatic work whose projects have been lauded as “a breath of pure creative power” (Opera Wire). Danielle’s background in opera and experimental theatre yield an artist with an instinct for pushing the boundaries of contemporary classical music.

As a creator of new works, Danielle bridges new music, devised performance, and film with a particular focus on collaborative engagement with poets, dancers, and visual artists. Her dual roles as creator and performer of her projects offer intimacy and permeability. In addition, her work as a practicing depth psychotherapist heavily influences her creative endeavors. Through somatic, imaginal, symbolic, and mythic frameworks, she explores the psyche's capacity for healing and transformation.

Danielle’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Opera Wire, The Financial Times, and on NPR. She is the creator of Sonnets To Orpheus, an immersive song cycle set to Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, and co-creator of Magdalene, a chamber opera set to Marie Howe’s poetry scored by fourteen female composers. Her forthcoming project, Sentinel, tells the story of a woman confronting traumatic memories in virtual reality in order to find healing, and is on track to premiere in 2025/26. The piece merges immersive technology with live vocal performance in an exploration of memory, fragmentation, and repair.

Danielle’s “high, crystalline soprano” has been said to be “mesmerizing… as hypnotic to watch as she is to hear” (The Wall Street Journal, Parterre). As a performer she is “exposed, intelligent, earnest… powerful and persuasive” and has a “radiant, nearly angelic presence” (The New York Times, The Financial Times).

Select performances include PROTOTYPE Festival, The LAX Festival, The Chautauqua Institute, The Standard, KCRW Desert Nights, The Ace, SoFar Sounds, The Bootleg Theatre, Automata Arts, La Musica Lirica (Italy), La Main d'Or (France), and The Ludwig Foundation (Cuba), and most recently the West Coast Premiere of Magdalene at CalArts REDCAT located in Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In addition to composing and performing classical music, Danielle records and tours with her experimental baroque-pop project, Dia—layering ethereal vocal elements with intimate songwriting and lush, acoustic arrangements. Lauded as, "something of a nostalgic enigma… with a penchant for impeccably balanced songwriting," her approach to music is influenced by years of classical training and an early childhood spent on a Hindu ashram (The Line of Best Fit). Her debut EP, TINY OCEAN, was released with MANIMAL RECORDS and features songs produced by Joey Waronker (Beck, REM, Atoms for Peace) and Tim Carr (Perfume Genius, Hand Habits, HAIM). Her live performance of Covered In Light was highlighted on NPR’s Tiny Desk.

As an artist and a practicing psychotherapist, Danielle brings a singular perspective to the intersection of creativity and mental health. She consults with organizations, artists, and communities to foster awareness and build spaces for healing and individuation through artistic expression. Her work emphasizes dialogue around the role of art in shaping collective experiences to explore the potential for creativity to transform personal and societal narratives. Through both performance and conversation, she invites audiences to encounter the unconscious as a generative force.

Danielle holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts (MFA), Pacifica Graduate Institute (MA), and New York University (BA), and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and ASCAP. In addition to her artistic work, she maintains a clinical depth psychotherapy practice, The Intuitive Voice. She launched a jewelry line in 2016 that has been featured in Vogue, Elle, and InStyle and can be seen at Poe Jewelry.

Ms. Birrittella gave an exposed, intelligent and earnest performance in what was essentially a one-woman show. She was persuasive and powerful throughout.

— The New York Times
It’s hard to believe Birrittella is not a dancer by trade… her ability to mirror and transform. This is to say nothing of Birrittella’s luxurious high B-flat or facility singing difficult intervals.

— SF Classical Voice
A breath of pure creative power. While Birrittella is but one voice, she is embodying the voice of all women… eventually blooming into a thrilling high note… soaring over the heavier orchestration.

— Opera Wire
What finally distinguishes Magdalene is Birrittella’s singing and her radiant, nearly angelic presence.

— The Financial Times
Unlike anything I’ve ever seen… one of the more moving artistic experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

— Theatre Times
Birrittella is charismatic singer with a high, crystalline soprano. A willingness to be fully exposed.

— The Wall Street Journal
Birrittella is truly not to be missed in this role. As hypnotic to watch as she is to hear. a hopeful vision for what opera can be and do in the twenty-first century.

— Parterre
Words and music are integrated into a multi-dimensional sensory exploration, that is both sonically and visually immersive... Birrittella takes the long view and infuses it with a sense of wonder.

— Fabrik Magazine
It is rare to see an opera singer dance. Danielle Birrittella possesses a pure lyric soprano.

— Indie Opera
Her practice as a classically trained opera singer induced an incredibly critical ear. Influences of classical music, such as Baroque and French Romantics are beautifully infused with modern experimental cinematic folk.

— The Huffington Post
Not many songs start with understated ukulele and end up touching on opera, Italian folk songs, strings, mellotron and a subtle heartbeat rhythm, but Birrittella makes her sound and experience of heartbreak into its own pocket universe.”

— L.A. Record
A nostalgic enigma. Her musical background encompasses the broadest range of influences; from her childhood on a Hindu ashram to a career in opera. Elements of these are audible in her nostalgic, comfortingly familiar sound, coupled with her penchant for impeccably balanced songwriting.

— The Line of Best Fit

Novena

Sentinel

Magdalene

Haiku Dreams

Patron

Songs of the Scorpion

Sonnets to Orpheus

Thea

The Abortion

Lollipop

Tiny Ocean

All the Pretty Little Horses

PRACTICE

Danielle’s creative work spans original operatic and vocal compositions presented on stage and in interdisciplinary settings. Her broader practice includes public speaking, workshops, consulting, and collaborative residencies—extending her offerings into relational, dialogic, and transformational formats.

Creative Collaborations & Residencies

Danielle collaborates with choreographers, musicians, dancers, and visual artists on new and adapted work. These residencies and partnerships grow from a shared commitment to embodied narrative, vocal exploration, and mythic or ritual structures.

Talks & Public Speaking

Danielle offers talks and lectures on creativity, vocal performance, embodiment, and the psychological frameworks underpinning artistic processes. Her work integrates training in depth psychology, extensive performance experience, and an ongoing artistic practice focused on the creation of original work. She has presented at conferences, universities, and cultural institutions.

Workshops & Group Facilitation

Workshops integrate expressive arts therapy, vocal work, somatic practices, and symbolic exploration. Participants explore personal material through voice, movement, writing, and image-based process. Formats range from short public workshops to multi-day intensives.

Consulting & Institutional Work

Danielle consults with institutions, arts organizations, and communities to integrate psychological perspectives into cultural programming. Her work focuses on how creativity intersects with mental health—offering strategic support that fosters artist well-being, audience engagement, and more reflective approaches to storytelling. Informed by her clinical training and multimodal artistic practice, she helps organizations approach their programming with greater impact and attunement.

Featured In / Collaborations With

Danielle Featured on LA Opera: Behind the Curtain:

Exposed, intelligent, earnest… powerful and persuasive.

Ms. Birrittella gave an exposed, intelligent and earnest performance in what was essentially a one-woman show. She was persuasive and powerful throughout.

It’s hard to believe Birrittella is not a dancer by trade… her ability to mirror and transform. This is to say nothing of Birrittella’s luxurious high B-flat or facility singing difficult intervals.

A breath of pure creative power. While Birrittella is but one voice, she is embodying the voice of all women… eventually blooming into a thrilling high note… soaring over the heavier orchestration.

What finally distinguishes Magdalene is Birrittella’s singing and her radiant, nearly angelic presence.

Unlike anything I’ve ever seen… one of the more moving artistic experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

Birrittella is charismatic singer with a high, crystalline soprano. A willingness to be fully exposed.

Birrittella is truly not to be missed in this role. As hypnotic to watch as she is to hear. a hopeful vision for what opera can be and do in the twenty-first century.

Words and music are integrated into a multi-dimensional sensory exploration, that is both sonically and visually immersive... Birrittella takes the long view and infuses it with a sense of wonder.

It is rare to see an opera singer dance. Danielle Birrittella possesses a pure lyric soprano.

Her practice as a classically trained opera singer induced an incredibly critical ear. Influences of classical music, such as Baroque and French Romantics are beautifully infused with modern experimental cinematic folk.

Not many songs start with understated ukulele and end up touching on opera, Italian folk songs, strings, mellotron and a subtle heartbeat rhythm, but Birrittella makes her sound and experience of heartbreak into its own pocket universe.”

A nostalgic enigma. Her musical background encompasses the broadest range of influences; from her childhood on a Hindu ashram to a career in opera. Elements of these are audible in her nostalgic, comfortingly familiar sound, coupled with her penchant for impeccably balanced songwriting.