Michelle Areyzaga, soprano

Voted Chicago’s “Artist of the Year” for 2006, Michelle Areyzaga has appeared in a wide range of principal operatic roles. Her debut in The Kaiser of Atlantis for Chicago Opera Theater was hailed by Opera Magazine as “stunning.” Since then she has gone on to show her vocal diversity in roles including Cunegonde, Pamina, Susanna, Sophie (Werther), Musetta, Lauretta, Adele, Zerlina, Despina, Serpina, and Belinda, for companies such as Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Lyric Opera’s “In the Neighborhoods,” Opera Theatre North, DuPage Opera Theatre, Light Opera Works, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México.

Ms. Areyzaga’s live performances are frequently broadcast on Chicago's WFMT. She made her European concert debut as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor at England’s York Minster Cathedral.  In Paris, she received standing ovations as soloist in the Lord Nelson Mass with the orchestra of London’s Royal Academy of Music and the St. Charles Singers.  Other recent performance highlights include solo appearances with the Grant Park Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Ars Viva Symphony, Chicago Ensemble, and the North Shore Choral Society, singing the role of Peri in Schumann's masterpiece Das Paradies und die Peri.

Ms. Areyzaga is known for her interpretation of contemporary American music.  Her numerous awards include top prizes from the William C. Byrd International Young Artist Competition, the Metropolitan Opera Regional auditions, the Marguerite McCammon Competition, the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation, the American Opera Society, and the Bel Canto Foundation Midwest competitions.  Ms. Areyzaga’s newest CD, The Sun Is Love is available on the Proteus label.  She made her NYFOS debut last season in Amores Nuevos.