Lisette Oropesa: New Orleans' Voice on the World's Greatest Stages

New Orleans' Voice on the World's Greatest Stages

Lisette Oropesa was born on September 29, 1983, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Cuban immigrant parents. Her mother had been an operatic soprano in Cuba, and that musical DNA ran deep. Lisette grew up in Baton Rouge, started as a flautist, and didn't switch to voice until her mother encouraged her to study singing at the LSU School of Music. It was one of those pivots that changes everything.

In 2005, Oropesa won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals — the most prestigious young artist competition in American opera. She joined the Met's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in September 2006. She was twenty-two years old, performing on the most famous operatic stage in the Western Hemisphere.

A Voice That Conquers Continents

Oropesa became known for roles that demand both technical perfection and emotional depth: Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Gilda in Rigoletto, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Violetta in La traviata. Critics praised her for singing with what one called "effortless grace and lyrical bloom." She performed at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Salzburg Festival. When you've sung at every major opera house on earth, you've earned the right to be called world-class.

Louisiana's Gift to Opera

In 2019, Oropesa won the Richard Tucker Award — one of the highest honors in American opera. In 2023, France named her Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2024, she won the International Opera Award for Best Female Singer. She's also a vegan marathon runner who has been featured in Runner's World Magazine, because apparently being one of the greatest sopranos alive wasn't enough to keep her busy.

Lisette Oropesa is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, raised in Louisiana, trained at LSU, and now performing on every great stage the world has to offer. New Orleans has always produced voices that can fill a room. Oropesa fills opera houses from Milan to Manhattan.