Possessed of “a ravishingly beautiful sound” (Opera News), young American soprano Laura Wilde is already becoming an artist in demand in the Jugendlich dramatischer repertoire with recent debuts in the title roles in Jenůfa in David Alden’s production at both English National Opera and Santa Fe Opera, Katya Kabanova in Stephen Lawless’ new production for Scottish Opera, and as both Agathe in Der Freischütz and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for Staatstheater Stuttgart.
This season, Laura returns to Stuttgart as Agathe and also her first Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust under Marc Soustrot, and sings her first Sieglinde alongside Freia and Third Norn in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ring Cycle under Sir Andrew Davis. Laura also joins Davis for concert performances as Gretel in Humperdinck’s beloved Hänsel und Gretel with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra following her debut in the same role at the Edinburgh International Festival. Future projects include her first Donna Anna in the US.
A 2016 recipient of the Sara Tucker Study Grant, Laura is a graduate of The Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she performed as Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Marianne Leitmetzer (Der Rosenkavalier), and Anna (Nabucco), and subsequently made her first foray into the Wagnerian repertoire as a Flower Maiden (Parsifal), and in David Pountney’s Ring Cycle as Freia (Das Rheingold) and Ortlinde (Die Walküre). Further roles added to her repertoire whilst at the Center include Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Hanna (The Merry Widow), Countess (Capriccio) and Foreign Princess (Rusalka).
Elsewhere in the US, recent highlights include her debut at Dallas Opera as Laura in Korngold’s Der Ring des Polykrates under Emmanuel Villaume, her first Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) for Opera Theatre of St Louis, the role of Lucy in Grant Park Music Festival’s concert performance of Menotti’s The Telephone, Micaëla (Carmen) for Nashville Opera, and the creation of the role of Jane Withersteen in the world premiere of Riders of the Purple Sage for Arizona Opera. Laura returns to Arizona in another world premiere this season, creating the role of Mamah Cheney in Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya.
Laura was a Semi-Finalist at the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was twice awarded the Elihu Hyndman Memorial Award by St Louis, and has most recently been awarded The Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation Prize, also by St Louis.
Originally from South Dakota, Wilde’s love of music began with the trumpet and developed into voice; she is a graduate of Indiana University.
