EMILY SIERRA

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. In the 2024/25 season, she distinguished herself across major European stages, making her house debut at Theater an der Wien as Idamante in Idomeneo, and appearing as Adalgisa in Norma at the Opéra de Toulon. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, she performed a rich array of roles including Varvara in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Káťa Kabanová, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and Alkmene in Claus Guth’s Die Liebe der Danae.

In the 2023/24 season, Sierra’s roles at the Bayerische Staatsoper included Idamante (Idomeneo), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Clotilde (Norma), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), Dritte Magd (Elektra), and Fyodor (Boris Godunov). She also made her U.S. main-stage debut as Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette) at the Dallas Opera.

For the 2025/26 season, Sierra’s repertoire underscores her versatility across trouser roles and lyric mezzo parts, with upcoming performances including Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Siébel (Faust), Adalgisa (Norma), Mercédès (Carmen), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Second Waldnymphe (Rusalka). The season also marks her house debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette.

Sierra is an alumna of The Juilliard School and the Royal College of Music, where she was the recipient of the 2019 President’s Award presented by King Charles. In summer 2021, she joined the Vocal Residency of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and took part in the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie. She is the 2024 recipient of the Sara Tucker Study Grant, a 2021 Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (now the Eric & Dominique Laffont Competition) where she received the Noreen Zimmerman Award, a Finalist of the Operalia Competition (Latvian National Opera, October 2022), and a 2025 recipient of the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis. She is represented by Askonas Holt.