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Finding Her Voice
Young soprano Lisette Oropesa goes from LSU to the Met, and then comes back home for
'The Pearl Fishers'
Sunday, January 23, 2011
By Chris Waddington
Staff writer
As a 21-year-old music major at LSU, Lisette Oropesa was thinking about graduate school -- not
an international career as an opera diva. Then, to gain a little experience, she entered the 2005
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and topped a field of 1,500 singers from across
the nation.
"My expectations were very modest going into the competition, so I didn't have a chance to get
nervous," Oropesa said. "I just kept winning -- and then I was on the stage of the Met with a full
orchestra for a national broadcast.
"I was so young -- and had never performed at a real opera house. I suppose it would be the
same if a college ballplayer suddenly found himself pitching a game at Yankee stadium."
Oropesa's win earned her berth in the Lindeman Young Artists Development program at the
Metropolitan Opera. It also put the New Orleans-born newcomer in august company. Past
winners of the annual contest include some of today's most prominent singers: Renee Fleming,
Deborah Voigt, Thomas Hampson and Ben Heppner.
"The contest changed my life," said Oropesa, a soprano. "I'm not really famous, but I'm living a
public life in New York, getting mentioned in opera blogs, getting calls from young singers
seeking advice. It's not the life I expected as a girl growing up in Baton Rouge.
"The Met is kind of like Hollywood: lots of glamor and gossip. Fans will wait at the stage door for
hours hoping to get their picture taken with a favorite singer."
In 2011 Oropesa will sing leading roles in houses from San Francisco to Munich, and she
continues her association with the Metropolitan Opera. The 27-year-old soprano will share the
stage with superstars such as Placido Domingo and Susan Graham.
Oropesa also headlines in a production of Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," staged by the New Orleans
Opera Association on Jan. 28 and 30. It's her debut as Leila, a Ceylonese priestess who
celebrates a forbidden love in grand duets and trilling vocal lines -- and later pleads for her
lover's life in one of the most dramatic scenes in French opera.
"I was apprehensive about taking the role -- my voice is still developing," Oropesa said. "But
when I looked at the score I could see that it would let me show two aspects of my singing -- lots
of florid, light coloratura work at the start, then the lyric power needed to carry over a big
orchestra in the later, dramatic scenes."
If the critics are right, Oropesa shouldn't have any trouble with the part. The Boston Globe called
her a singer of "blistering power and assurance." The New York Times raved about her
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"attractively silky, flexible timbre." Opera News took note of her "uncommonly precise coloratura
agility."
Rehearsals for the "The Pearl Fishers" happen to coincide with the 2011 Met Council auditions at
Loyola University. Oropesa plans to be there Sunday. She'll hear a host of young singers from
the Gulf Coast Region -- and expects to give them a pep talk while the judges deliberate.
"Only one winner will advance from this regional audition, but it's an important competition for all
the singers," Oropesa said. "You never know who might be in the audience -- or who is watching
on YouTube. Every time you sing, you have to give 100 percent."
Oropesa didn't sing seriously until she got to LSU.
"I played flute for 12 years and thought that was where I was going, but my Mom, who taught
music in Baton Rouge schools, begged me to audition for the LSU Voice Department," Oropesa
said. "She reminded me that people went nuts if I sang in a talent show or did a solo at church. I
guess she always knew I had something special. She was a trained singer. She would stop me if
I sang along with some rock song on the radio and said I would wreck my voice if did that."
After a semester as a double major, the instrumentalist became a full-time singer.
"I still love the flute -- I sing in a very similar register -- but opera lets me explore my interest in
acting, in literature and languages," Oropesa said. "And, for me, voice feels like the most natural
instrument. It's more personal. My body is my instrument now."
. . . . . . . .
Staff writer Chris Waddington can be reached at cwaddington@timespicayune.com or
504.826.3448. Comment and read more at nola.com/music.
INFOBOX:
The Pearl Fishers
What: The New Orleans Opera Association presents Bizet's story of a Ceylonese priestess and
her forbidden love
Where: Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts
When: 8 p.m. Jan 28, 2:30 p.m. Jan 30. Tickets start at $20. For more information, call 504-529-
3000 or go to neworleansopera.org.
. . . . . . . .
Metropolitan Opera
regional auditions
Where: Roussel Hall, Loyola University
When: Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
Tickets: $10
©2011 timespic
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| LSU alum Lisette Oropesa ('06) with her Prof. Robert Grayson |
