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““During Karen Santos’ aria, “Porgi, amor”, the entire club was silent and fixated on her heartbreaking honesty. To hear this soprano’s rich, velvety voice was truly a highlight. Santos balanced the strength of the Countess with the vulnerability of a woman who was grieving the loss of love.””
Karen Santos is a versatile soprano and visual artist known for her rich tone and passion for the stage. Born and raised in Mexico City, Karen has been living in Canada for several years. One of Karen’s most recent performance included the one-act, one-woman opera ‘At the Statue of Venus’ by Jake Heggie. In this production, Karen worked under renowned director Rob Herriot, with music direction by acclaimed soprano Monica Huisman, and piano by Megan Dufrat. For this opera, Karen also created all of the set’s art pieces, using her visual arts’ degree to set the stage of an art gallery.
Karen’s recent performances have included such leading roles as Rosina (The Marriage of Figaro) with Manitoba Underground Opera, Rose (At the Statue of Venus), Isabelle/Madeline (The Face on the Barroom Floor) with the Little Opera Company, Belinda/Anna (Dido & Aeneas) with Manitoba Underground Opera, Rodrigo (Handel’s Rodrigo) & Angela (Angela and her Sisters) with the University of Manitoba Opera Theatre, Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and Lady Anna (Patience) with Opera NUOVA, Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) with the Manhattan Opera Studio, and Micaëla (Carmen) with Festival de Ópera en Oaxaca.
Karen made her Carnegie Hall debut in July of 2017 with the Manhattan Opera Studio, studying with Saffron Chung, Roger Malouf, and Lewis Ehlers of Lombardo Associates. She also performed in the Festival de Ópera en Oaxaca in her native country, singing Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, under the mentorship of the celebrated Mexican mezzo-soprano, Grace Echauri. She recently completed her Masters of Music at the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba, studying with Monica Huisman, Tracy Dahl, and Laura Loewen. In addition to this, Karen has studied under the distinguished tutelage of David L. Jones and esteemed soprano, Robyn Driedger-Klassen.
As mentioned, Karen is also an accomplished visual artist, having received a Fine Arts Degree from UBC in Visual Arts, and completed her Opera Performance degree at the Vancouver Academy of Music.
““One of the show’s most potent moments came during Santos’s deeply lyrical “Porgi, amor.” ”
