Performance Year: 2025
Puerto Rican opera singer Larisa Martínez is praised and sought after for her “smoky soprano” (Opera News), gracing top stages and collaborating with household names of today.
Larisa has made orchestra appearances with Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony. In 2019, she made both her Kennedy Center recital debut and Carnegie Hall debut, singing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Athens Philharmonic. This season, Larisa performs as soloist with the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marcelo Lehinger and premieres a new work written for her and Joshua Bell by Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano.
For several years, Larisa has toured with tenor Andrea Bocelli, performing for packed houses, including Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. Her “Voice and the Violin” program, created with violinist Joshua Bell, has visited the Ravinia Festival, SPAC, 92nd Street Y, Verbier Festival, Colorado Symphony, and Hawaii Symphony. In 2016, Larisa was invited as part of President Barack Obama’s artistic delegation to Cuba. The visit culminated in the Emmy-nominated PBS special, Live from Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba.
Larisa’s operatic roles include Violetta in La Traviata (Wichita Grand Opera), Sophie in Werther alongside tenor Piotr Beczala, and Maria in West Side Story with tenor Michael Fabiano (Festival Napa Valley). She originated the role of Isaura in the World Premiere of Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini in Italy, conducted by Maestro Fabio Luisi. That same year, Larisa won the 2016 Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Audition in Puerto Rico.
An advocate for accessible music education, Larisa is a board member of Silkroad Ensemble, founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and a proud artistic resident of Turnaround Arts, led by the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Larisa is additionally passionate about representing her Boricua cultural heritage through projects and performances.
