Soprano Iris Candelaria graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy’s opera program in 2022, where she studied under Annika Ollinkari.

She made her debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2022 as the High Priestess in G. Verdi’s Aida, and at the Finnish National Opera as the Queen of the Night in W. A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Since then, she has performed numerous roles at the National Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Constance (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Valencienne (The Merry Widow). In the summer of 2025, she will also make her debut at the Bregenz Opera Festival in Enescu’s Oedipe.

Iris Candelaria won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in 2023. In the summer of 2019, she received First Prize in the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition, and in 2021 she won the Audience Prize in the Havets Röst competition.