Praised for her ability to “wow the audience with her nuance and sturdy yet supple lyricism”, Colombian American soprano Vanessa Vasquez, has regularly appeared on opera stages throughout North America and recently made her European debut as Micaëla in Carmen with Oper im Steinbruch. In the current season, Vasquez joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Other recent performances include the title role of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas with North Carolina Opera, after appearing with the company in the previous season as Violetta in La traviata, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Arizona Opera, Nuria in Ainadamar for Detroit Opera, and Micaëla for Washington National Opera. Vasquez was a winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has been recognized by the Richard Tucker Foundation with both a Sara Tucker Study Grant and a Richard Tucker Career Grant. 

Vasquez has also appeared for return engagements with The Santa Fe Opera to sing the Countess in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, and Arizona Opera to sing her first performances of Micaëla, reviewed by The Washington Post for being “one of the evening’s vocal highlights, her voice a bright beam from the stage.” Vasquez made her debut with the Canadian Opera Company in the role of Liù in Turandot, and with Washington National Opera singing her first performances of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Previously, she debuted with Arizona Opera and North Carolina Opera as Violetta in La traviata, and with The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia, both as Mimi in La bohème.

She made her professional opera debut in summer 2017 as Liù in Turandot with Des Moines Metro Opera. With Oberlin in Italy, she performed Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. On the concert stage, she debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s cantata Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich and with the New York Choral Society in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic as soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and she was soprano soloist in Honneger’s King David and Poulenc’s Gloria with Voices of Ascension. She was a featured soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the Academy of Music 160th Anniversary Concert and Ball.

Vasquez is the recipient of the First Prize in the 2017 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, First Prize in the 2016 Licia Albanese Competition, First Prize in the 2016 Giulio Gari Competition, First Prize in the 2016 Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition, and First Prize and Audience Award in the Phoenix Opera Southwest Vocal Competition, among others.

Vanessa Vasquez graduated from The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Music degree. She went on to complete a Master of Music degree at UCLA, and residency at Philadelphia’s acclaimed Academy of Vocal Arts. Vasquez is a native of Scottsdale, Arizona.