Rachel Willis-Sørensen
Biography
American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is known for her diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner. A regular guest at the leading opera houses around the world, Le Monde enthused, "…the American soprano has without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world. The timbre, of marmoreal beauty, is striking, the projection telluric..."
Recent career highlights include: Rusalka (Rusalka) at the San Francisco Opera and NDR Hamburg, Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) at Glyndebourne, Semperoper Dresden and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Violetta (La Traviata) at Opéra national de Bordeaux, Marguerite (Faust) as part of the Royal Opera House’s tour of Japan. Her other key roles include Elsa (Lohengrin), Desdemona (Otello) Mimi (La Bohème), and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). She also performs at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, and Oper Frankfurt.
She won first prize at the 2014 Operalia competition in Los Angeles and at the 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and she was a winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Brigham Young University and is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. An active presence on social media, she can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @rachewillissorensen and on Twitter under @RWSing.
Current album
Rachel
Artists Rachel Willis-SørensenRelease Date: 04/28/2024
"Rachel" sees this immensely gifted singer explore a wide swathe of repertoire to showcase her versatility, vocal depth, and artistry. An intimate portrait of the artist at this stage in her career, each piece included on the album was carefully selected by Rachel as she presents a collection of her favorite arias and scenes that she hopes will move the listener as they have moved her. Her dramatic expressivity and vocal virtuosity are both on display in full force, in arias ranging from the album’s centerpiece Verdi scenes, with weighty roles such as Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in Il Trovatore, and Violetta in La Traviata, to ‘Vilja-Lied’ from Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow and the aforementioned ‘Song to the Moon’ from Dvořák’s Rusalka.
