Opera Viva! Alumni

Teresa Castillo, Soprano

“I loved Opera Viva! I had such a great experience there and enjoyed the language classes, loved working with all the different instructors and coaches and really enjoyed being in the city of Verona. It’s a truly wonderful program and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!”

Hailed by the San Francisco Gate for her vocal “power and florid elegance”, soprano Teresa Castillo was a recent participant at San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program and sang the role of #1 in Conrad Susa’s Transformations. She is a 2017 finalist of the Anita Cerquetti Opera Competition, winner of the Elaine Malbin Competition, and career grant recipient from Career Bridges New York. This summer Ms.Castillo returns to Bel Canto at Caramoor and will sing on the Opening Night Gala Concert with acclaimed soprano, Angela Meade, while at Caramoor as an Apprentice Artist she sang in the U.S. Premiere of Terra Cotta Warriors in 3D and Une voix de feemme en coulisse in Dialogues des Carmélites. This season, Ms. Castillo made her debut with the Occasional Opera Company singing the role of Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte, which she also recently sang with the Seoul International Opera Festival in Korea. She will make her debut with the Virginia Opera covering the roles of Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor as a part of The Herndon Foundation Emerging Artist Program in 2018. For more about Teresa, please visit her web site

Katherine C Carpenter

“The connections that I made with the faculty at Opera Viva! continue to be of great value to me as I pursue a career in opera. I am so appreciative of all of the advice, encouragement, and training that I received at this program.”

Since Opera Viva!, Katherine have gone on to perform as Charlotte in Thomas Pasatieri’s one woman opera, Before Breakfast, and sang in a Master Class for Jane Eaglen. In 2017, Katherine was offered positions in three acclaimed summer programs and chose to participate in Chicago Summer Opera, where she will perform the role of Mercy Lewis and the cover of Abigail Williams in their production of The Crucible. She will compete in an international vocal competition this spring and is preparing to audition for Young Artist Programs around the country.  For more about Katherine, please visit her web site