4 Roles Nadine Sierra Has Dominated In Her Young Career

By Francisco Salazar

Nadine Sierra is one of opera’s rising stars. The soprano, who turns 29 on May 14, 2017, has recently added the Richard Tucker award to a long list of major accomplishments. At such a young age, one can only expect more tremendous success to come.

In just a short time she has already established herself in some of the greatest opera houses and in some of the most challenging repertoire. Here are the roles that Sierra has already made her own.

Lucia di Lammermoor

Since 2015, the soprano has already sung in four productions of the famed Donizetti heroine, turning in one increasingly polished interpretation after another. Her most recent production in La Fenice was highly lauded. Of the performance, OperaWire noted, “On her current trajectory, it certainly does appear that Nadine Sierra will soon be joining the pantheon of great divas, both past, and present, who have essayed the role of Lucia.”

Gilda in “Rigoletto”

It’s one of the roles that she has dominated for a long time and one that has been her vehicle for her Metropolitan Opera debut as well as Teatro alla Scala debut. She has also performed it at the Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric, Teatro San Carlo, Seattle Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre and Opera National de Paris and one she will be performing in Hannover and Orange this summer. When she made her Met debut critics went wild for her Gilda and stated that this is “a vocal and dramatic achievement that showed she is an artist ready for a significant career with this company.”

Pamina in “Die Zauberflöte”

Sierra has become widely recognized for her Mozart interpretations as she has added Ilia, Zerlina, Susanna and Countess Almaviva to her repertoire. But Pamina was one of her first memorable Mozart roles and an opera that she has performed around the world. She brought her interpretation to the Virginia Opera, Teatro Lirico di Caligari, and San Francisco Opera. When she sang the role in Virginia the Washington Post praised her and said her interpretation “had earnest expression and depth of character. With her fluid soprano ringing in the hall at all dynamic levels, she sculpted her arias in beautiful phrases.”

Musetta in “La Bohème”

She may one day become a fantastic Mimì but for now, Sierra has been a flirtatious Musetta in “La Bohème” in San Francisco,  Israel and will bring the role to the Royal Opera for her debut. Critics have hailed her acting skills and noted “Sierra brought crystalline tone to her Act II show-stopper, ‘Quando me’n vo’” and “playing a quite different part that has both comic vitality in the Cafe Momus scene and poignant intensity at the death of Mimì in the opera’s finale.”

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