Katia Escalera, soprano, has won critical acclaim worldwide for her vocal beauty and versatility, musical sensitivity and natural stage presence on the operatic and concert stage. Her international career includes performances in world eminent halls such as Teatro Colón, War Memorial San Francisco Opera House, Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Hagia Sophia, to mention a few. She has sung under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Richard Bonynge, Charles Dutoit, Donald Runnicles and Helmut Rilling, amongst others. Press releases from La Prensa (La Paz, Bolivia) on her interpretation of Liù TURANDOT, read “It was soprano Katia Escalera (Liù, the slave) who stole the show…Escalera, a privileged soprano, not only was able to melt the frozen heart of Princess Turandot, but also did so to the spectators who rose in standing ovation by the beauty of the fragment she honored.” Opera News remarks, “[Katia Escalera] made the most of it, singing and acting with confidence and panache,” in her performance of THE TSAR’S BRIDE with San Francisco Opera. The San Francisco Classical Voice noted that, “Katia Escalera…has it all: voice, projection, diction, looks, presence,” of her rendition of Brahms repertoire in her Schwabacher Concert Series debut.
Escalera recently debuted in the title role in SUOR ANGELICA with Asociacion Romanza in Lima, Perú. In 2009, she debuted in the title role in TOSCA with Fort Collins Opera. She debuted in Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as Viclinda I LOMBARDI ALLA PRIMA CROCIATAI under the baton of Maestro Bonynge, and returned as Gerhilde DIE WALKÜRE with Maestro Charles Dutoit where she also covered the title role of MANON LESCAUT.
Escalera has performed roles such as Countess LE NOZZE DI FIGARO with Acadiana Symphony in Lafayette, LA, under the baton of Maestro Mariusz Smolij. She has also sung Liù TURANDOT and the title role of CARMEN in La Paz, Bolivia; Laura LUISA MILLER, Karolka JENUFA, Glaša KAT’A KABANOVA, Polissena ARSHAK II, Jade Boucher DEAD MAN WALKING (cover), Magdalene DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG (cover), Octavian DER ROSENKAVALIER (cover), Valencienne THE MERRY WIDOW (cover), and Blumenmädchen PARSIFAL in the San Francisco Opera House; Nancy ALBERT HERRING, and Diana and Giove-in-Diana in Cavalli’s LA CALISTO with the San Francisco Opera Center Showcase; and Zerlina DON GIOVANNI with the Western Opera Theatre Tour.
Oratorio and Symphonic presentations include Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 in Teatro Colón, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder, Mozart Requiem, C minor Mass, Coronation Mass, and Dominican Vespers, Handel Messiah, Fauré Requiem, Bach St. John’s Passion, Beethoven Mass in C, Verdi Requiem, Szymanowsky Stabat Mater, Vivaldi Gloria, and Duruflé Requiem, amongst others. Miss Escalera’s has presented numerous concerts as soloist in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Spain, Turkey, and the USA, singing repertoire from diverse periods and languages.
Since 2003, she has collaborated extensively with musicologist Piotr Nawrot and his remarkable discovery of baroque manuscripts in the Jesuit Missions of the Bolivian Amazons. Thus far, she has premiered many arias and motets of this repertoire around the world and recorded two CDs and one DVD of the Bolivian Baroque Music, Vol. 1 and Bolivian Baroque Music, Vol. 2 with European Baroque ensemble Florilegium recorded by Channel Classics. Her aria “In hac mensa” was nominated Editor’s Choice in Gramophon Magazine (June, 2005). She is scheduled to sing more arias in the Bolivian Baroque Music, Vol. 3 in 2010. In 2005, she recorded the CD of Solombra, a modern composition by Janis Mattox for voice, piano, violin, and cello based on poetry in Portuguese by Cecilia Mireilhes, with GoodSound Virtual Acoustics and sang the World Premiere concerts in San José, CA.
Katia Escalera has won the AFE Audience Choice Award in the Classical Singer Convention ’09 in Chicago. She has received prizes and awards in several other international Competitions as well. She was Semifinalist in the Neue-Stimmen Voice Competition of 2003 in Gütersloh, Germany, she received 1st prize in the Aspen Summer Music Festival (1998) Concerto Competition and was Winner of the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition (1999). She debuted in Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina as Finalist in the Nuevas Voces Líricas Competition 2004, and received 2nd prize in the Kneisel Competition of Lieder in Rochester, NY (1998). She placed 1st in the National Voice Competition in Bolivia (1999) and was awarded “Outstanding and Excellent Bolivian Professional” in 2004 by the Human Development Foundation of the country of Bolivia.
She is scheduled to sing the title role of TOSCA in San Juan, Argentina and in La Paz, both a Solo Recital with the European Baroque Festival and with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Bolivia as Soprano Soloist in the Gala Lirica (Opera Arias and Ensembles). In 2012, she will star as soloist in several concerts with Gilles Binchois (French Baroque Ensemble) in Dijon, France and in the International Festival of Baroque Music of Chiquitos, Bolivia. She will also perform the title role of the zarzuela LUISA FERNANDA in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Her musical studies commenced in Instituto “Eduardo Laredo” in Cochabamba, Bolivia; she holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Literature from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, USA. Miss Escalera has dual citizenship in Bolivia and the USA, she was a Merolini and Western Opera Theatre Tour participant (1999), later an Adler Fellow, resident of San Francisco Opera in CA, USA (2000-01) where she flourished from mezzo to soprano.
