Leena Chopra – Voice/Piano
Soprano Leena Chopra enjoys a vibrant career singing opera, recital, and concert performances as well as musical theater. During the 2008-09 season, Ms. Chopra appears as Mrs. Segstrom, one of the Liebeslieder Singers, in a one-night-only concert performance of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with the Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54, with a cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave, Christine Baranski, Natasha Richardson, Victor Garber, and Laura Benanti. Additional engagements during the 2008-09 season include a return to Seattle Opera as Barbarina in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO; concert engagements include the BRAHMS LIEBESLIEDER WALTZES with the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Highlights of Ms. Chopra’s 2007-08 season included a debut with Seattle Opera as Second Priestess in the new Metropolitan Opera / Seattle Opera coproduction of Gluck’s IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE, and both Oberto in ALCINA and Echo in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS with Wolf Trap Opera. Concert engagements during the 2007-08 season included both Paquette in CANDIDE (semi-staged) and Maria in excerpts from WEST SIDE STORY with the National Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s NINTH SYMPHONY with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Also during the 2007-08 season, Ms. Chopra performed a series of recitals at the University of Washington, reprised the roles of Belinda and First Witch in DIDO AND AENEAS with the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group, and appeared in recital with pianist Steven Blier.
Highlights of Ms. Chopra’s 2006-07 season included a critically-acclaimed Broadway debut as Young Heidi in Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES at New York’s City Center; performances as both L’Amour and Clarine in PLATÉE with Santa Fe Opera; featured appearances with the New York Festival of Song in Weill Recital Hall; both Belinda and First Witch in DIDO AND AENEAS with the Mark Morris Dance Group; and several performances of Howard Shore’s LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY with the New Mexico Symphony and the Guanajuato Symphony. Also during the 2006-07 season, Ms. Chopra was the recipient of a Santa Fe Opera career grant.
Additional career highlights for Ms. Chopra have included appearances in the role of Alexandra opposite Patti LuPone in REGINA at the Kennedy Center; the role of Madrigal Girl in the premier of Osvaldo Golijov’s opera AINADAMAR at the Tanglewood Center in 2003 and subsequently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2004; and a Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 as soprano soloist in Beethoven’s NINTH SYMPHONY with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Concert highlights have included appearances with the Orchestra of St Luke’s and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as the Boston, Chicago, Denver, Greenwich, New Mexico, Guanajuato, and Juilliard symphony orchestras. Ms. Chopra’s concert repertoire has included the MOZART REQUIEM and Mozart’s CORONATION MASS, among many others. Also an avid recitalist, Ms. Chopra has appeared in recital in San Antonio, Chappaqua, Santa Fe, and New York.
Appearances with Santa Fe Opera have included the Slave in SALOME, Servilia in LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (scenes program), and Elvira in L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI (scenes program). As a member of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, Ms. Chopra appeared as Wellgunde in DAS RHEINGOLD, and as both Lauretta and La Ciesca in GIANNI SCHICCHI.
Ms. Chopra earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where she appeared with Juilliard Opera in the title role of Massenet’s CENDRILLON. In 2007, she won third place in the Lotte Lenya Voice Competition for Singers. Born in Canada to Indian parents, Ms. Chopra makes her home in New York City.