| Soprano, Amanda Villegas hails from Northern California and her new home of New York City. Her varied repertoire has taken her around the globe, from San Francisco to Vienna. Amanda was featured in 2006 alongside world renowned bass-baritone Simon Estes as the soprano soloist in Dvořak’s Te Deum with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. During the summer of 2007, Ms. Villegas performed as a Young Artist at the Britten-Pears Programme in Aldeburgh, UK, focusing on the lieder of Strauss and Mahler. In 2008 Ms. Villegas was named as a New York District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and in 2009 was an Eastern Regional Finalist. In 2008 Ms. Villegas was a finalist in the 3rd Annual Peter Elvins Competition in Belmont, MA and won an encouragement award as a finalist in the Gerda Lissner Competition in 2007.
Amanda made her New York City debut on October 4, 2008 in recital at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Chelsea. The recital featured scenes from Strauss’ Arabella, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and songs by Strauss, Heggie, Moore and Kerns. In December and January, Amanda will perform with other students of Lauren Flanigan in concert with the American Opera Projects. In May 2009, Ms. Villegas will return to her alma mater for a concert of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder. She will also be heard as the soprano soloist in a Requiem by Portugese composer João Domingos Bontempo.
Her operatic roles include Mozart’s Donna Elvira, Contessa Almaviva, Elettra and First Lady, as well as Madame Angèle in Weill’s The Tsar has his Photograph Taken and Kate in Arthur Benjamin’s The Devil Take Her. Equally at home on the concert stage, Ms. Villegas has performed recitals featuring Berlioz’s famed cycle Les Nuits d'été, Strauss and Mahler Lieder, and Debussy’s Proses Lyriques, and has appeared as a soloist with the Erevan Choral Society of Boston. Ms. Villegas received her Master of Music with Honors in Vocal Performance from Boston University in 2006, and graduated cum laude from Santa Clara University in 2004, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Music.
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