Lisette Oropesa is an American soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

, who was raised in Baton Rouge, where she studied at Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

. Her parents are both emigrants from Cuba, and her mother, Rebeca Oropesa (née Ulloa), is a soprano who was heard in productions at Loyola University of the South (Sister Genevieve in Suor Angelica, and Venus in Venus and Adonis) and LSU (Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi), before she decided on raising a family.

Lisette Oropesa was in the National Council Grand Finals Concert, at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

, in 2005, and was then part of the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program until 2008. She made her Met debut in a small role in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle was a noted French opera director.-Biography:Ponnelle was born in Paris. He studied philosophy, art, and history there and, in 1952, began his career in Germany as a theatre designer for Hans Werner Henze's opera Boulevard Solitude...

's production of Idomeneo (conducted by James Levine

James Levine

James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...

), on September 28, 2006, then sang the First Lay-Sister in their new production of Suor Angelica.

As substitute, she sang her first leading role at that house, Susanna in Sir Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller

Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...

's production of Le nozze di Figaro (opposite Erwin Schrott

Erwin Schrott

Erwin Schrott is an operatic bass-baritone, particularly known for his interpretation of the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni.-Career:...

's Figaro), on October 2, 2007, which was reckoned a great success.

In the 2007-08 season, Miss Oropesa was seen in the Met's Hänsel und Gretel, as the Dew Fairy, and, in the 2008-09 season, as the role of Lisette in La rondine

La rondine

La rondine is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert...

, opposite Angela Gheorghiu

Angela Gheorghiu

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano opera singer. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has sung as soprano leading roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, and many other opera houses in Europe and the United States...

, Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna is a French-Italian tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Early years:Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips...

, and Samuel Ramey

Samuel Ramey

Samuel Edward Ramey is an American operatic bass with a long, distinguished career.During his best years, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, yet power...

, in Nicolas Joël's production. She also sang the role of the Rhinemaiden, Woglinde, in the Met's 2009 Der Ring des Nibelungen, and additionally sang the off-stage role of the Woodbird in Siegfried. On September 27, 2010, she reprised her Rhinemaiden in the Met's season-opening production of Das Rheingold, and, in May 2011, sang the part of the god Amor in Mark Morris

Mark Morris

Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments...

's production of Orfeo ed Euridice.

Elsewhere, the soprano has appeared with the Welsh National Opera

Welsh National Opera

Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...

 (Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....

 (Il turco in Italia), Tanglewood Music Festival (Constanze), Ravinia Festival (Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by James Conlon

James Conlon

James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...

), Opera New Jersey (Lucia di Lammermoor), Arizona Opera

Arizona Opera

Arizona Opera is an opera company which operates in both Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in 1972. By 1976 the...

 (Gilda in Rigoletto), and the New Orleans Opera

New Orleans Opera

Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...

 Association (Rigoletto and Les pêcheurs de perles).

Videography

• Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel (Shäfer, Coote; Jurowsky, Jones, 2008) EMI
  EMI
  The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
  
  
• Puccini: La rondine (Gheorghiu, Alagna, Brenciu, Ramey; Armiliato, Joël, 2009) EMI

Awards

• Grand Finals winner, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
  Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
  The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and...
  
  , 2005.
• Special Winner, Gerda Lissner Foundation, 2008.
• First Place award, Licia Albanese Puccini Competition.
• George London Award.
• Sarah Tucker study grant.
• Zarzuela Award, Operalia International Opera Competition, 2007.
• Sullivan Foundation Award.