AMANDA BATISTA is a Puerto-Rican Cuban-American Soprano singing with passion, power, and purpose. This is Ms. Batista’s second season with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera where she studies under the tutelage of Darrell Babidge. This season she makes two role debuts at the Metropolitan Opera: First Lady in the English Holiday Production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Bianca in Puccini’s La Rondine.
Ms. Batista made her Met debut in the 22/23 season as the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, and this past summer, she appeared as an artist in residency with the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in France. She also made her role debut as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo with the Aspen Music Festival, as a Renée Fleming Artist.
In the 22/23 season, Ms. Batista joined the prestigious Merola Opera Program where she sang the title role in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, and Salud in de Falla’s La Vida Breve on the Schwabacher Summer Concert. She appeared as a featured soloist on the Merola Grand Finale concert where she sang the act one duet from Madama Butterfly on stage at the San Fransisco Opera.
“Batista brought new appreciation to the work with her note-perfect, musically flawless performance, which exploded properly, shaking the rafters not just with volume but with the kind of elemental power that befits Elektra or Fidelio. Call it ‘lyric soprano-goes-helden’ ”.
- SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE
Ms. Batista is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. In the 21/22 season, she made her Juilliard Opera debut as Frau Fluth in Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater where she was praised for her “vibrant, wide-ranging career voice” (OPERA NEWS) and her “darker, spinto sound… sizable and impressively even from top to bottom” (PARTERRE BOX). Ms. Batista made her Alice Tully Hall debut singing Ben Moore’s So Free Am I for Juiliard Songfest in collaboration with pianist Brian Zeger. Additionally, Ms. Batista was the Second Place winner in the 2022 Eleanor McCollum Competition at the Houston Grand Opera.
“Batista’s soprano is a voice destined for big theaters, with a sound that has more beauty than the steeliness that can sometimes accompany huge soprano voices.”
- OPERA NEWS
In the 20/21 season, Ms. Batista made her role debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at the Chautauqua Institution. Additionally, she appeared as a featured soloist in Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages outdoor recital series at The Club at Hearst Plaza.
Previously a Mezzo-Soprano, Ms. Batista performed several roles with Opera Theater Rutgers: Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Florence Pike (Albert Herring), La Frugola (Il Tabarro), and Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro). Ms. Batista holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University where she studied under the tutelage of Eduardo Chama.
“I am called to sing because of my passion for the dramatic arts, the necessity of communication, and the power of personal narrative. There is no greater joy than realizing the melodies roaring from the orchestra are the same ones swelling from deep within ourselves. I sing to serve the greater community - to see and be seen."