SOPRANO Elena O'Connor made her European début in 2017 with the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in the title role of Tosca. The following month she was engaged as a last-minute cover for Sondra Radvanovsky as the title role in Aida at the Chorégies D'Orange Festival; after learning the role, that August she appeared in both performances of Paul-Émile Fourny's production on the stage of Orange's 7,300-seat ancient Roman theater led by Paolo Arrivabeni. She reprised the role at Oper Dortmund in the premiere performance of Giacopo Spirei’s Aida, followed by the premiere of Joan Anton Rechi’s Aida in Detmold and an appearance with Opera Naţională Română in Cluj-Napoca as Leonora in Il Trovatore. Throughout the 2024-2025 season, she sang the title role in Armin Petras' Tosca at Staatstheater Cottbus, conducted by Alexander Merzyn. Ms O’Connor made her professional début as Tosca with Union Avenue Opera in St Louis.
In concert, Ms O'Connor has sung the soprano solos in numerous Bach Cantatas, Poulenc's Gloria, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and the requiem masses of Brahms and Verdi. She has been a frequent guest of the Philharmonic Orchestra and Oratorio Society in her hometown of Rochester, New York. With Finger Lakes Opera, she sang the role of Rosalinda in their production of Die Fledermaus, led by conductor Gerard Floriano, and was a featured guest in their 10-year anniversary gala in the summer of 2022. In the summer of 2023, she sang the title role in Finger Lakes Opera's production of Aida.
As a young singer, Ms O’Connor received honors and awards from numerous competitions, including the Palm Beach Opera International Vocal Competition where she was a prize-winner in two consecutive years. Additionally, she was a winner of the Aspen Music Festival’s Vocal Concerto Competition. In Aspen, she was featured as Musetta in La bohème and Micaela in Carmen under the baton of Julius Rudel and the direction of Ed Berkeley. An art song enthusiast, Ms O’Connor was a participant in the Ravinia Festival’s prestigious Steans Institute Program for Singers under the auspices of James Conlon and Margo Garrett. Also at the invitation of Maestro Conlon, Ms O’Connor was the youngest ever featured soloist in the long history of the Cincinnati May Festival, where she performed the soprano role in Bach’s Cantata No. 21, Cincinnati’s Enquirer calling her "a young star to watch."
Ms O'Connor divides her time between her homes in Rochester, New York, and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, where she lives with her husband and tw0-year-old daughter.
Photo by Brandon Vick.
