Soprano Ailyn Pérez will perform the role of the Countess in all remaining performances of The Marriage of Figaro, starting July 31
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Santa Fe, NM — The Santa Fe Opera announces soprano Ailyn Pérez will sing the role of Countess Almaviva in all remaining performances of The Marriage of Figaro, replacing Spanish soprano Marina Monzó, who has withdrawn for personal reasons. Ms. Pérez returns to the role and Laurent Pelly’s acclaimed staging after performances in 2022 at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in Nagano, Japan. She has also performed the role at Houston Grand Opera, the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Harry Bicket, and Staatsoper Hamburg. SFO’s production returns to the Crosby Theatre on July 31 and runs for six more performances through August 22, 2025.
Ms. Pérez was last seen at the Santa Fe Opera in the title role in Rusalka in 2023, for which she received critical acclaim, and previously in Roméo et Juliette (Juliette) in 2016 and Faust (Marguerite) in 2011.
“…in the enormous title role, soprano Ailyn Pérez was a force of nature.”
—The Santa Fe New Mexican
“Pérez, onstage for nearly the entire opera, sang and acted heroically, her darkly beautiful soprano voice and refulgent high notes bringing the character vividly to life.”
—San Francisco Classical Voice
“Highlights include soprano Ailyn Pérez in the title role with a riveting performance, sung beautifully throughout, which captures both the otherworldly nature of her character, as well as the very human-female jeopardy explored in this production.”
—Santa Fe Reporter
“Clearly at the peak of her musical prowess, Pérez completely disappeared into the role, presented a fully realized characterization of a girl that was determined to be an adult and to be loved no matter the cost.”
—Parterre Box
About The Marriage of Figaro — Back by popular demand! Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, a revival of French director Laurent Pelly’s stylish production, opened on June 28. Originally brought to life in the 2021 Season under challenging circumstances, with Pelly directing remotely from Paris due to COVID-19 restrictions and visa regulations, the production team finally realized their production in person this summer. Set in the late 1930s just before World War II, scenic designs by Pelly’s longtime collaborator Chantal Thomas further enhance the production’s aesthetic. The opera unfolds over 24 hours, with the action beginning and ending at the same hour; a turntable, designed to resemble a large clock with oversized rotating brass gears, reinforces this sense of time. Over the course of the opera, the characters are swept away by forces stronger than themselves and by Act IV, all falls apart, including the clock. Noted Fred Cohn for Opera News in 2021, “You could marvel at the production team’s cleverness, as the turntable whizzed around and pieces of set went through intricate rearrangements.”
With costumes conceived by Pelly himself, Jean-Jacques Delmotte serves as Associate Costume Designer, and internationally recognized Lighting Designer Duane Schuler returns to Santa Fe to further illuminate this beautiful and timeless production and David Zimmerman is the Wig and Makeup Designer. Susanne Sheston is the Chorus Director and Andrew Moss oversees fight and intimacy direction.
Santa Fe Opera Music Director Harry Bicket conducts the international cast, which includes the following American debuts: Italian bass Ricardo Fassi in the title role, French baritone Florian Sempey as Count Almaviva and soprano Ailyn Pérez as the Countess. Chinese mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu is Cherubino and American soprano and former Apprentice singer Liv Redpath makes her role debut as Susanna. Three more company debuts are noted with bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as Bartolo, mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer as Marcellina and tenor Steven Cole as Don Basilio.
Apprentice singer Isobel Anthony returns to the Santa Fe Opera as Barbarina. Fellow Apprentice singers making their Santa Fe Opera debuts are Mattia Venni singing Antonio, Andrew Bearden Brown as Don Curzio, and Moriah Berry and Mary Beth Nelson Zaros are the Bridesmaids.
Nine performances are scheduled: June 28; July 4, 9, 31; August 4, 9, 12, 16 and 22, 2025.
The Marriage of Figaro
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Based on La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784) by Pierre Beaumarchais
Premiered May 1, 1786, Burgtheater, Vienna, Austria
Revival production from 2021
9 performances — June 28; July 4, 9, 31; August 4, 9, 12, 16 & 22
Sung in Italian with opera titles in English and Spanish
Approximately 3 hours 27 minutes; including a 25-minute intermission
Production support is generously provided by
The Estate of James R. Seitz, Jr.
The Estate of Suzanne Hanson Poole
The performances of Harry Bicket are supported by
Joseph M. Bryan, Jr.
The performances of Liv Redpath are supported by
Agnes Hsu-Tang & Oscar Tang, Tang Fund
Creative Team
Conductor Harry Bicket
Director & Costume Design Laurent Pelly
Scenic Design Chantal Thomas
Associate Costume Design Jean-Jacques Delmotte
Lighting Design Duane Schuler
Wig & Makeup Design David Zimmerman
Chorus Director Susanne Sheston
Fight & Intimacy Director Andrew Moss
Cast
Count Almaviva Florian Sempey*~
Countess Almaviva Ailyn Pérez (July 31 – August 22)
Countess Almaviva Marina Monzó (July 4, 9)
Countess Almaviva Jacquelyn Stucker (June 28)
Figaro Riccardo Fassi*~
Susanna Liv Redpath+
Cherubino Hongni Wu
Bartolo Maurizio Muraro*
Marcellina Lucy Schaufer*
Don Basilio Steven Cole*
Barbarina Isobel Anthony=
Antonio Mattia Venni*=
Don Curzio Andrew Bearden Brown*=
Bridesmaids Moriah Berry*=, Mary Beth Nelson Zaros*=
The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra & Chorus
*Santa Fe Opera debut, +Former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice,
=Current Santa Fe Opera Apprentice, ~American debut
About Ailyn Pérez — Hailed by The New York Times as “a beautiful woman who commands the stage” and “a major soprano,” Ailyn Pérez is in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals. As The Washington Post remarked, she is “a beautifully self-possessed singer, with a wonderfully expressive instrument.” Internationally celebrated for her signature artistry, as the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, Ms. Pérez became the first Hispanic recipient in the award’s history.
Ailyn continues to captivate audiences worldwide in the 2025–26 season, with an exciting lineup of operatic and concert engagements. She makes an anticipated return to the stage of The Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and will also make an exciting role debut as Verdi’s Aida at Semperoper Dresden. She returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper several times this season, beginning with Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, on tour in Shanghai. She will reprise her “sophisticated, technically brilliant” (Klassik begeistert) portrayal of Nedda in Francesco Micheli’s production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, appear in the concert Oper für Alle, bow as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, and sing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca.
On the concert stage, Ms. Pérez opens her season at the Enescu Festival, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Later this season, she sings Verdi’s Requiem at Rome’s Sala Santa Cecilia and acts as soloist for the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s EARTH: A Choral Symphony, a commission by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Opera career highlights include Violetta (La traviata) at Opernhaus Zürich, the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and the Royal Ballet and Opera – Covent Garden, where she was hailed as “an ideal Violetta” (Observer, UK). Pérez then went on to appear at Covent Garden in the same season, as the title role in Massenet’s Manon, and for her role debut as Liù (Turandot). Other highlights include Thaïs, Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), and Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) at The Metropolitan Opera; Leonora (Il trovatore) at Houston Grand Opera; Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Washington National Opera; Violetta and title role of Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House; Tatyana Bakst in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Great Scott (featured on an acclaimed Erato recording release) and Manon for The Dallas Opera; house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre as Mimì (La bohème) and at Glyndebourne as Alice Ford (Falstaff); Marguerite (Faust) in Santa Fe and Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra) at Teatro alla Scala and Staatsoper Berlin, and Opernhaus Zürich.
About the 2025 Season — Opening Weekend centers on a new production of Puccini’s La bohème directed by James Robinson and a revival of 2021’s beloved production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro directed by Laurent Pelly. From July 12, the company presents a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto by director Julien Chavaz in an international co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Zuid. Opening July 19 is Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, staged by Louisa Muller in a Canadian Opera Company production originated at Garsington Opera. Rounding out the season on July 26 is Wagner’s masterpiece Die Walküre, presented by the company for the first time in a new production by director Melly Still. To best accommodate audiences, all performances of Die Walküre will begin at 8:00 pm.
The popular Apprentice Scenes featuring the opera’s singing and technical Apprentices are reimagined to provide a wider range of performance and training opportunities for tomorrow’s stars. The first performance on August 10 honors the longtime tradition of staged scenes from the operatic repertoire. The second performance on August 17 features the Apprentice singers in concert alongside the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra conducted by Iván López Reynoso.
The 2025 Season also brings both innovative and familiar partnerships:
The recently announced “Summer Saturdays in Santa Fe” round-trip transportation package, in collaboration with Rio Metro Regional Transit District, provides patrons from Albuquerque and all communities in between with a convenient way to attend the opera through the addition of a special late-night train service after each Saturday evening performance of the season. For more information, visit www.santafeopera.org/whats-on/rail-runner-train-package.
For the fifth year running, the Santa Fe Opera Opening Nights radio broadcasts on 95.5 KHFM will serve audiences across New Mexico through state-wide translators, as well as national and international listeners via online streaming at khfm.org. Each broadcast features opening night performances recorded live from The Crosby Theatre and airs on the following dates at 6 PM MDT: July 28, August 4, 11, 18 and 25. Broadcasts will remain available for free, on-demand streaming on the santafeopera.org and khfm.org websites for 30 days. For more information, visit www.santafeopera.org/radio-broadcasts.
Says General Director Robert K. Meya, “Now more than ever, people are seeking new and memorable experiences. A night at the Santa Fe Opera offers first-time visitors and longtime patrons just that. From live performances to the fun of tailgating, Preview Dinners, Backstage Tours and free Prelude Talks, we have something for everyone. I hope you will join us for a sensational summer of open-air opera!”
About The Santa Fe Opera — Recognized in 2022 as “Festival of the Year” at the International Opera Awards, the Santa Fe Opera annually draws 85,000 people from New Mexico and around the globe. Nestled atop a mountain vista in northern New Mexico, the company’s iconic Crosby Theatre is open on three sides, allowing visitors to enjoy performances complemented by the elements. Since 1957 the company has presented over 2,000 performances of 180 operas by 92 composers spanning five centuries of opera, creating a legacy of 45 American premieres and 19 world premieres.
The mission of the Santa Fe Opera is to advance the operatic art form by presenting ensemble performances of the highest quality in a unique setting with a varied repertory of new, rarely performed, and standard works; to ensure the excellence of opera’s future through apprentice programs for singers, technicians and arts administrators; and to foster an understanding and appreciation of opera among a diverse public.
Discover More: santafeopera.org
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