Lisette Oropesa

Soprano Lisette Oropesa has been a fixture of New York's Metropolitan Opera since making her debut there in 2007. In between international appearances, Oropesa finds time to compete in marathon races. Oropesa was born in New Orleans on September 29, 1983. Her parents were of Cuban origin, and her mother was a music teacher and operatic soprano. Oropesa studied the flute as a young woman, but her mother suggested that she audition as a singer at Louisiana State University. She was accepted into the vocal program and studied with Robert Grayson. In 2005, Oropesa won the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Grand Finals and joined the Met's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, completing the program in 2008. By that time, she had already made her debut on the Met stage in 2007 as a substitute Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Oropesa has gone on to appear in many Metropolitan Opera productions, including Woglinde the Rhine Maiden in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle (2009), Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (2017), and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata (2020). She gave her first solo vocal recital at the Park Avenue Armory in New York in 2016 and has appeared in concert works with many ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Her list of operatic appearances abroad is long and includes roles at La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera. Oropesa's large repertory runs from Mozart forward to Wagner and includes works in Italian, French, and German. Between opera productions, and even during their runs, Oropesa finds time to run marathons, and in 2014, she was featured in Runner's World magazine. Oropesa became a Spanish citizen in 2019. In addition to various operatic recordings and videos, Oropesa has issued two solo recitals, Within/Without (2017) and Aux filles du désert (2018). In 2020, Oropesa was heard on the 2020 recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. ~ James Manheim