Rachel Willis-Sorensen
From College of Fine Arts and Communications
Willis-Sørensen was the 2009 winner of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and was invited to join the HGO Studio this fall where she will be playing the role of Masha in Pique Dame in 2010.
Additionally, Willis-Sorensen was invited to participate in the Dolora Zajick Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in 2009, where she studied privately with Dolora Zajick, one of the world's premiere mezzo-sopranos.
In 2008, she sang Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Utah Opera and the High Priestess in Aida at Utah Festival Opera. She was a national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after winning both the district and regional finals of the same competition.
Roles at Brigham Young University have included Suor Angelica, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Musetta in La bohème. She won first place at Musicfest Northwest in 2005 where she appeared in concert with the Spokane Symphony. She won the 2007 Nancy Peery Marriot BYU Singer of the Year award and recorded an album for Sofie’s Daughters at BYU. Her stage credits also include The Evil Queen in Semour Barab's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Washington East Opera's Bravo Troupe), Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and Meg Boyd in Damn Yankees.
In 2007, she was awarded an Oscarson Discovery Grant which enabled her to attend AIMS, the leading European summer vocal program, held in Graz, Austria. She was also the 2007-2008 recipient of the Shirley Oscarson Scholarship.
Willis-Sorensen was a student of Darrell Babidge.
References
- Ballantyne, Marissa. “BYU student wins regional Metropolitan Opera auditions.” BYU News. 23 Jan. 2008. Brigham Young University. 11 Feb. 2008. <http://byunews.byu.edu/release.aspx?story=archive08/Jan/met>.
