Lisette Oropesa sings Maria with nobility, warmth, and drama

THE SONGBIRD: Lisette Oropesa was born in 1983 in New Orleans. Her parents emigrated from Cuba; her mother is a music teacher and former operatic soprano. Oropesa played the flute for 12 years and studied music at Louisiana State University. After winning the Met Opera National Council auditions in 2005, she entered its Young Artist Program. Her Met debut came in 2006, as a small role in "Idomeneo." Susanna was her first major role at the Met, other principal roles have included Gretel, Amor, Gilda, Nannetta, Sophie, Manon, and Violetta. Oropesa has sung in many venues across the U.S. and performs regularly at the world's top opera houses and festivals (Paris, London, Madrid, Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Barcelona, etc.). In 2019 she won two top prizes: the Beverly Sills Award and the Richard Tucker Award. She has made three solo recital discs of pieces by Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti, and Zarzuela arias.
THE MUSIC: "Maria Stuarda" is the third of Donizetti's operas on English Tudor royalty. Based on Schiller's play from 1800, "Maria Stuarda" had a rocky birth due to troubles with censors, singer rivalries, and illnesses in the cast. After its dress rehearsal in Naples in 1834 caused concern with censors, a rewrite was required with new characters and plot structure under the title of "Buondelmonte." It underwent more revisions and premiered, in the form we mostly know it as now, at La Scala at the end of 1835. It never caught on in Donizetti's era and went dormant until the 1960s when the work started to be re-evaluated. It was mounted for Leyla Gencer in Florence in 1967, for Joan Sutherland in San Francisco in 1971, for Beverly Sills in New York in 1972, and for Janet Baker in London in 1973. It is produced fairly regularly now (at least 120 productions world-wide since 2004). Maria has a long entrance scene with an introduction and a beautiful, nostalgic cavatina ("Oh nube!") followed by a dramatic cabaletta.

[@carlooperamusic]

Che meraviglia. Io ho assistito allo spettacolo dal vivo, impressionante bellezza vocale e scenica di Lisette 😍😍😍😍😍

[@wieslawrudnicki2638]

STUPENDA LISETTE

[@arturo8402]

She’s in a league all by herself ❤

[@OperaMyWorld]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@johnboy8576]

Do you have the final scene?

[@tamerlano]

Who sings this stuff better today?

[@jefgong]

She reminds me Lella Cuberli singing the same role 35 years ago in Paris