Emily Sierra, lauded for her "marked lyricism,...rare quality of timbre, [and] ...suave voice", is a Cuban-American mezzo-soprano currently singing in the Ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Sierra began her European career in the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper, after having been awarded the Opera Foundation Scholarship for the 2021/22 season. Roles in the 2023/24 season include: Idamante (Idomeneo), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Clotilde (Norma), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), Dritte Magd (Elektra), and Fyodor (Boris Godunov). She also makes her main stage US debut as Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette) at Dallas Opera.

Having had a hugely successful first year, Sierra notably performed Dryade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Nanni (L'infedeltà delusa), Hécube (Les Troyens), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), and Annina (La Traviata). In the 2022/23 season, Sierra completed her second year of the Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, performing roles through the year including Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Second Maid (Elektra), Un musico (Manon Lescaut), Soeur Mathilde (Dialogues des Carmelites), and Chambermaid of the Bolkonskis (Best New Production 2023 War and Peace).

Sierra is an alumna of The Juilliard School and the Royal College of Music. She was also recently selected as a Sara Tucker Study Grant Recipient in 2024 and has joined the ranks of the prestigious foundation for American opera singers. She is also a Finalist of the Operalia competition, having taken place at Latvian National Opera in October 2022, and a Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, newly renamed the Eric and Dominique Laffont competition, being awarded the Noreen Zimmerman Award.

During her undergraduate career at the Royal College of Music, Sierra was recipient of the 2019 President’s Award. In the summer of 2021, Sierra joined the prestigious Vocal Residency of the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, alongside performances in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz in conjunction with the renowned Internationale Meistersinger Akademie summer program of 2021.Other operatic highlights include her debut with English National Opera in the Theatre Royal Stratford East production as a Gossip in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and as the title role in Juilliard's 2021 production of Handel's Teseo. On the concert platform, Sierra has performed as alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall, and Cloride in Handel’s Parnasso in festa at Wigmore Hall with the London Handel Festival. She has also appeared at Boston’s Symphony Hall and Curtiss Hall in Chicago.

Hänsel

Hänsel und Gretel | Humperdinck

Dryade

Ariadne auf Naxos | R. Strauß

Zweite/Dritte magd

Elektra | R. Strauß

Mercédès

Carmen | Bizet

Idamante

Idomeneo | Mozart

La ciesa

Gianni Schicchi | Puccini

Annina

La traviata | Verdi

Teseo - click to watch

Teseo | Handel

Mozart Requiem

Philharmonischer Chor Augsburg   
MD: Wolfgang Reß

Mozart’s Mass in C Minor

Marlow Choral Society
MD: Christopher Grant

Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes

Schloss Nymphenburg   
Yaara Tal & Andreas Groethuysen

Handel’s Messiah

Royal Albert Hall  
Concerts from Scratch