Ailyn Pérez

Hailed by The New York Times as “a beautiful woman who commands the stage” and “a major soprano,” Ailyn Pérez is in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals. As Opera News observes, “The phrase ‘an embarrassment of riches’ might have been invented to describe the combination of talents that belong to Ailyn Pérez … who truly seems to have it all.” Internationally celebrated for her signature artistry, as the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award she became the first Hispanic recipient in the award’s history. 

Notable engagements of the current season include Pérez’s greatly anticipated title role debut as Puccini’s Madama Butterly at Teatro di San Carlo, which she reprises later this season at the Houston Grand Opera and the Teatro Real de Madrid. At the Metropolitan Opera, she makes her thrilling role debut as Florencia Grimaldi in a new production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and stars as Micaëla in Carmen. Additionally, she sings her first performances with the Washington Concert Opera as Magda in La Rondine and stars as the title role of Tosca at the Hamburg State Opera. 

Career highlights include Violetta (La traviata) at Opernhaus Zürich, the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, and the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden, where she was hailed as “an ideal Violetta” (Observer, UK). Pérez then went on to appear at Covent Garden in the same season, as the title role in Massenet’s Manon, and for her role debut as Liù (Turandot). Other highlights include Thaïs, Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), and Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) at The Metropolitan Opera; Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Wiener Staatsoper, and the Washington National Opera; Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) for Houston Grand Opera (having made her house debut there as Desdemona in Otello); Violetta and title role of Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House; Tatyana Bakst in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Great Scott (featured on an acclaimed Erato recording release) and Manon for The Dallas Opera; house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre as Mimì (La bohème) and at Glyndebourne as Alice Ford; Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) and Marguerite (Faust) for Hamburgische Staatsoper; Marguerite (Faust) in Santa Fe, and Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra at Teatro alla Scala and Staatsoper Berlin, and also opposite Leo Nucci at Opernhaus Zürich. 

In concert, Pérez has performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montréal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mozart’s Requiem with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Essen Philharmoniker. In recent seasons, Pérez has made guest appearances at gala concerts for The Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. Pérez has also appeared in recital for London’s Rosenblatt Recitals at Wigmore Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Her debut album, Poème d’un jour (a program of French and Italian songs on the Opus Arte label), was released to rave reviews, with the UK’s Independent newspaper awarding it five stars, while International Record Review confessed, “Every so often, a singer comes along who completely bowls you over.”