Rachel Willis-Sørensen

She has a bachelor's degree and a masters, the latter in vocal performance and pedagogy, both from Brigham Young University. Among her professors at BYU was Darrell Babidge. She has also studied at the Houston Grand Opera Studio and under Dolora Zajick.

Willis-Sørensen performs a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner.[1] She is most well known for her interpretation of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), and the title role in Rusalka. Roles included in her repertoire include: Elettra (Idomeneo]), Licenza (Il sogno di Scipione), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Hélène (Les vêpres siciliennes), Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Elsa von Brabant (Lohengrin), Gutrune (Götterdämmerung), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Agathe (Der Freischütz), Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, Diemut (Feuersnot), Leonore (Fidelio), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Mimì (La bohème), Leonora (Il trovatore), Masha (Pique Dame), Governess (The Turn of the Screw), and Marguerite (Faust).

She made her professional debut as the High Priestess (Aida) at the Utah Opera Festival in 2008, and was accepted into the Houston Grand Opera Studio the following season, where she made several debuts and covered multiple roles. In the 2009/10 season in the program, Willis-Sørensen made her mainstage debut with the company as Masha in Pique Dame and covered Elsa in Lohengrin and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. In the 2010/11 season, she sang the role of Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte as a part of the Houston Grand Opera Studio performances. She also covered Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos. Later that season, she made her Santa Fe Opera debut as the First Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute and performed excerpts from Arabella as a member of their Apprentice Program.

In the 2011/12 season, Willis-Sørensen made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, debut as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro under music director Antonio Pappano. She sang with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under Leonard Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl, and appeared at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte[2] and Gotham Chamber Opera as Licenza in Christopher Alden's production of Mozart's rarely heard Il sogno di Scipione to celebrate their 10th anniversary.[3] She returned to Covent Garden as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, again under Antonio Pappano[4] and Houston Grand Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.[5]

She was a member of the Semperoper Dresden ensemble from 2012 until 2015, where she continued to add to her repertoire, most notably, the title role in The Merry Widow, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Elettra in Idomeneo, Diemut in Feuersnot, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and MimÌ in La bohème.

As a freelance artist, her career continued to develop to include debuts in leading roles at The San Francisco Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, the Metropolitan Opera, the Wiener Staatsoper, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Highlights from her 2018/19 season included her role debut as Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Teatro Regio di Torino,[6] Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus in a televised performance also featuring Jonas Kaufmann,[7] Hélène in Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Bayerische Staatsoper,[8] Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera,[9] and her role debut in the title role in Rusalka at the San Francisco Opera.[10]

In the 2019/20 season, she made her role debut as Marguerite in Faust in Tokyo as part of the Royal Opera House on tour,[1] (this also marks her debut in Japan), sang Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Semperoper Dresden,[1] performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, made her role debut as Valentine in Les Huguenots at Grand Théâtre de Genève, sang Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and went on tour with Jonas Kaufmann in support of his latest album, Wien, (on which she also appears) throughout Europe. She was to have made her role debut as Alcina at the Semperoper Dresden,[1] and sing Contessa Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux,[1] but these engagements were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

She began her 2020/21 season with a role debut at the Opéra national de Bordeaux as Violetta in La Traviata. [11]

• First prize, Birgit Nilsson Prize, and the Zarzuela Prize at Operalia in 2014[12]
• First prize at the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in 2011[13]
• Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2010[14]
• Sara Tucker Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in 2010[13]
• First place in the 2009 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in Houston

Willis-Sørensen was raised in Richland, Washington, and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hamburg, Germany.

• Beethoven: Lieder & Partsongs, various artists, Deutsche Grammophon, 2020[15]
• Wien, (DVD and CD with Jonas Kaufmann), Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Ádám Fischer, Sony Classical, 2019
• Strauss, R: Elektra, Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Christian Thielemann, Deutsche Grammophon, 2014
• 19. Festliche Operngala für die Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung, orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Alain Altinoglu, Naxos, 2013

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rachel Willis-Sørensen.

• Official website
• Profile, Europeana
• Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Zemsky/Green
• "A Chance to Listen to the Future at the Met" by Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, March 15, 2010
• "Dich, teure Halle" on YouTube from Tannhäuser, Operalia 2014
• "Or sai chi l'onore on YouTube from Don Giovanni, Royal Opera House, 2018