Maria Brea, Soprano

About Maria Brea

Maria Brea, soprano, is a native of Caracas, Venezuela made her debut as Olga in December 2020 in Giordano's "Fedora" with Teatro Grattacielo. She is currently a Finalist of the renown BBC Cardiff competition which will take place in the UK June 2021 and a semi-finalist in the Éva Marton International Voice Competition taking place in Hungry, August 2021. She won 6th prize  in the Vinas competition and a Special Zarzuela prize for the best Zarzuela singer  and was one of only six winners who sang in the orchestra concert for the winners at Teatro Liceu de Barcelona. In 2020 Maria Brea was to make her debut as Frasquita in Carmen at Rose Theater at Lincoln Center with MasterVoices. She will also sing the soprano solo in the Bridges performance  with MasterVoices.  This fall, 2019, Ms. Brea made her debut with the New Camerata Opera singing the role of Elena in the Zarzuela El Barbero de Sevilla. This past summer, Maria was an Eva and Stern Fellow at Songfest and made her debut with the Queens  Symphony Orchestra in their Night at the Opera concert series. Last spring, Ms. Brea made her Opera Tampa debut singing the title role in Maestro Anton Coppola's Lady Swanwhite, a world premiere. During the winter 2018, Maria sang the role of Raquel in the world premiere of the opera El Rey Nacio in New York City and made her debut as Musetta in La Bohème with the New York Concert Opera. Maria also sang in a recital as part of the St. Hugh Steinway series in Miami, Florida.  She sang the role of Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff in Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance. Ms. Brea performed with the West Bay Opera in the role of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen during the spring 2018. Maria was part of the 2017-2018 season in the Apprentice Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera where she sang as Bridesmaid I in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Ms. Brea participated as a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera 2017 where she performed arias and duets from La Bohème, Lakmé and Carousel with Maestro John Morris Russel and the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic. She also performed the role of the Bird in Philip Glass’s Juniper Tree in August 2017. Ms. Brea performed the role of Glaša in Janáček’s Katya Kabanova in April 2017 at the Juilliard School. In 2015, Ms. Brea sang the role of Marie in La Fille du Regiment with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance and Lisa in Lehar’s Das Land des Lächelns at the Manhattan School of Music. In 2014, she sang the role of Adina with the West Bay Opera and in 2013 she sang the role of Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore with Prelude to Performance. In 2016-2017, Ms. Brea was seen in two live-streamed master classes with Maestro Pablo Heras-Casado and Maestro Emmanuel Villaume. Additionally, she performed excerpts of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux and Dardanus with the Juilliard 415 under the baton of Maestro William Christie at Alice Tully Hall.

She most recently won second prize in the Opera Cultura Vocal Competition 2019 and an Encouragement award from the Gerda Lissner Song/Lieder Competition. Maria was a finalist in the Mary Truman Art Song Competition 2018, and won first prize in the Giulio Gari (2017) and New York Lyric Opera (2016) Competitions. Ms. Brea also won second prize in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition (2017) and received an encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Connecticut District 2017 and The Gerda Lissner Art Song Competition. Ms. Brea’s other awards and honors include the Mae Zenke Orvis Scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music where she received her Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance and a Kovner Fellow at the Juilliard School of Music where she received her Master’s. Maria was a proud recipient of a Novick Career Advancement Grant. Ms. Brea’s father, a music teacher and Cuatro player, taught her Venezuelan folk music from an early age. Maria is a co-founder of the instagram platform Latina Women in Opera and a Spanish Diction expert at DictionBuddy.com