HOUSTON – (June 15, 2020) – Grammy Award-winning soprano Ana María Martínez will join Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music beginning July 1, 2021, as a professor in the Department of Voice.
One of the foremost sopranos of her time, Martínez was an artist-in-residence at Rice for the 2019-20 academic year and will continue in 2020-21. As an alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she currently serves as its first-ever artistic advisor and was the inaugural recipient of its Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award.
"I am overjoyed to be joining the voice faculty at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music," Martínez said. "It is an honor to be part of such an outstanding institution that is so well known for shaping and nurturing great talent. I look forward to beginning this new role as a member of the Rice family, and to joining my colleagues in guiding future generations of artists."
“The opportunity to recruit an artist of Ana María’s caliber to our school’s faculty comes along very rarely," said Robert Yekovich, dean of the Shepherd School. "With an opera and concert resume second to none, Ana María will bring an enormous wealth of professional experience to teaching our young singers for generations to come. We are privileged to announce her appointment to the school’s already illustrious faculty."
Martínez is known worldwide for title roles of Rusalka, Carmen and Florencia in "Florencia en el Amazonas," Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly," Elisabetta in "Don Carlo," Solea in "El Gato Montés," Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni," Tatyana in "Eugene Onegin," Mimi in "La bohème," Nedda in "Pagliacci," Liù in "Turandot," Marguerite in "Faust," Alice Ford in "Falstaff," Desdemona in "Otello" and Amelia in "Simon Boccanegra." She performed these roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera de Puerto Rico, Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera in the U.S.; with the Opera National de Paris, Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, De Nederlandse Opera, Glyndebourne Festival and Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Europe; and with the Teatro Colón in Argentina.
Her concert career includes engagements with world-renowned orchestras and conductors such as the London Philharmonia Orchestra’s world premiere of the oratorio "Dreamers," conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; the Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel; the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert; the Puerto Rico Symphony; the San Antonio Symphony; the Seoul Philharmonic; the English National Opera Orchestra; the Tchaikovsky Symphony; the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira; the BBC Symphony; the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic; the Boston Symphony, conducted by Bernard Haitink; the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, conducted by James Conlon; the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico; the Washington National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Plácido Domingo; the Turkish Opera and Ballet Theatre, in concert with Dmitri Hvorostovsky; and the Esterhazy Festival, with Joseph Calleja. She voiced the role of opera singer Alessandra in season three of Amazon’s "Mozart in the Jungle."
Winner of the Pepita Embil Award at the 1995 Operalia II, she toured the world in concert with Domingo. Highlights of their performances together included concerts in Rio de Janeiro as part of the 2014 World Cup celebration, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by Dudamel, the Abu Dhabi Festival in the United Arab Emirates, the Arena di Verona in Italy, the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the White House. Together they inaugurated the Dubai Opera House, and at the Salzburg Festival in Austria they recorded a live DVD of an all-Zarzuela concert entitled "Amor, Vida de Mi Vida."
Martínez has also performed on international concert tours with star tenor Andrea Bocelli. Highlights of their collaboration include her appearance on the Emmy-nominated PBS special and DVD "American Dream: Andrea Bocelli’s Statue of Liberty Concert" with the New Jersey Symphony, and her participation in his live performance in New York entitled "Concerto: One Night in Central Park." She also sang the title role of Decca in "Manon Lescaut" recorded opposite Bocelli with Domingo conducting the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain.
A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, she represented the island as an honoree and performer in the 62nd annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. She received bachelor and master's degrees from The Juilliard School.
More information on Martínez is available at www.anamarimartinez.com.
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