ABOUT STEPHANIE
EASY PANACHE... A MAJOR TALENT.
Stephanie Sánchez negotiated the pants role of Prince Orlofsky with an easy panache. Ms. Sánchez possesses a ripe, throbbing, womanly mezzo, so it is no small feat that she was able to bend it into service to suggest a bored young male character. Her/his party piece, Chacun a son gout was craftily vocalized, but it was when she could really let her voice roll out that we were treated to a major talent.
OPERA TODAY
BIOGRAPHY
Stephanie Sánchez has been praised by Opera News for her “polished, Italianate mezzo” and by ReviewSTL for her “exquisite singing.” This summer, she joins West Edge Opera as Flosshilde/Fricka/Erda in Der Ring in einem Abend. In the 2024/25 season, she returns to Phoenix Symphony for Handel's Messiah as well as The Lyric Opera of Chicago for The Listeners. She reprises the role of Carlotta in Zorro with Arizona Opera and debuts with Seattle Opera as Yesi in the workshop of Stomping Grounds.
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Sánchez opened her 2023-24 season in her debut with Kentucky Opera performing the role of the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel. She also made debuts with the Phoenix Symphony, where she sang as a soloist in Handel’s Mesías [Spanish Messiah], Nettie Fowler in Carousel with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, and with Opera Omaha in the role of Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El ultimo sueño de Frida y Diego. She returned to Arizona Opera to reprise the role of Carlotta de Obragón in abbreviated performancs of Zorro for the company’s New Works Festival.
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Sánchez made several notable house debuts in the 2022-23 season, including as Third Spirit in The Magic Flute at Ravinia under the baton of Marin Alsop; as Chief Officer’s Wife in The Knock with Cincinnati Opera, and as Passenger #3 and Chief’s Daughter #2 in the world premiere of Proximity: Four Portraits at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
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As a resident principal artist with Opera San José for two seasons, she performed the roles of Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Hänsel in Hänsel and Gretel, and Azucena in Il Trovatore. She returned to perform the role of Mercedes while covering the title role in Carmen in 2022. She was selected as a Marion Pullin Studio Artist with Arizona Opera where she sang the roles of Persephone in Hercules vs. Vampires, Paquette in Candide, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Flosshilde in Das Rheingold, and returned to the company to cover the title role in Maria de Buenos Aires and sing Baroness Nica in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird.
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Sánchez counts among her notable engagements singing the role of Ines while covering Azucena in Francesca Zambello’s 90-minute adaptation of Il Trovatore at The Glimmerglass Festival; and singing the roles of Carlotta in Zorro with Opera Southwest, Abuela in En mis palabras at Atlanta Opera, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Olga in Eugene Onegin with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, and Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos with Arizona Opera. She also has been seen in roles with Brava Opera Theater, St. Petersburg Opera, Teatro Nuovo, Sarasota Opera, and Opera Maine. With Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Sánchez performed the role of Third Lady in The Magic Flute, and as a Digital Studio Artist in 2020 played Ruth in Pirates of Penzance, for which KDHX cited her “impressive combination of vocal power and comic flair.”
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Sánchez has been the recipient of several prizes, including the “Audience Choice Award” at the 2021 Jensen Foundation Competition. She was the recipient of the 2018  Igor Gorin Memorial Award, took first place in the Young Texas Artist Music Competition and second place in Opera Connecticut’s Opera Idol Competition, was a finalist in the Brava Opera Theater Competition, and has received grants from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust and the Hispanic Scholarship Association.
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Born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sánchez received her Artist Diploma from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and her master’s degree in vocal performance from New Mexico State University.
