Carnegie Hall

Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, several prizes at the Belvedere Singing Competition, and third prize and the audience prize at Operalia 2023, Cuban American soprano Elena Villalón is already attracting major industry attention. An alum of the Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio, she makes two major appearances in New York in the 2024–2025 season: as Nuria in the highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and in her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall with Craig Terry this evening. She returns to Santa Fe Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto, and makes her debuts as Almirena in Rinaldo at Detroit Opera and the title role of Rodelinda at Oper Frankfurt, where she can also be heard as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. She will also make her company debuts with the Royal Ballet and Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Staatsoper Berlin, and Glyndebourne.

Her engagements last season included her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and Sheila in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’s The Righteous at the Santa Fe Opera. As an ensemble member at Oper Frankfurt, Ms. Villalón led a new production of Le nozze di Figaro as Susanna, as well as making her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and singing Frasquita in Carmen. In concert, she sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with James Gaffigan and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Handel’s Messiah and Brahms’s German Requiem with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra in her native Texas. She also appeared in a winter gala at the Santa Fe Opera.

Other recent engagements include Tina in April De Angelis and Jonathan Dove’s Flight and Gretel in Hansel und Gretel, both at The Dallas Opera; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Austin Opera; Nannetta in Falstaff in Santa Fe; the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day at Houston Grand Opera; Iole in a new Barrie Kosky production of Hercules as well as Atalanta in Xerxes at Oper Frankfurt; and an international tour as the Queen of Sheba in Handel’s Solomon with The English Concert and Harry Bicket.

In concert she has appeared as the emerging artist recitalist with Vocal Arts DC, collaborating with Kathleen Kelly at the Kennedy Center; in addition, she has performed Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Poulenc’s Gloria with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day with Boston Baroque.

Grammy Award–winning pianist and arranger Craig Terry enjoys an international career regularly performing with the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Currently, he serves as music director of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago after 11 seasons as assistant conductor. Previously, he served as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera after joining its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Mr. Terry has performed with such esteemed vocalists as Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Brewer, Lawrence Brownlee, Janai Brugger, Nicole Cabell, Sasha Cooke, Eric Cutler, Danielle de Niese, Giuseppe Filianoti, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Bryan Hymel, Joseph Kaiser, Quinn Kelsey, Kate Lindsey, Amanda Majeski, Eric Owens, Ailyn Perez, Nicholas Phan, Susanna Phillips, Luca Pisaroni, Patricia Racette, Hugh Russell, Bo Skovhus, Garrett Sorenson, Heidi Stober, Christian Van Horn, Amber Wagner, Laura Wilde, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. He has collaborated as a chamber musician with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Pro Arte Quartet.

Mr. Terry’s 2024–2025 recital performance schedule includes more than 40 concerts in North America, Europe, and Asia with artists who include Katherine Beck, Christine Brewer, Joyce DiDonato, Christine Goerke, Lunga Eric Hallam, Ana María Martínez, Laquita Mitchell, Whitney Morrison, David Portillo, Patricia Racette, Hugh Russell, and Elena Villalón. He is artistic director of Beyond the Aria, a highly acclaimed recital series now in its 10th sold-out season, presented by the Harris Theater in collaboration with the Ryan Opera Center and Lyric Opera of Chicago. His discography includes five released recordings: Diva on Detour with Patricia Racette, As Long as There Are Songs with Stephanie Blythe, Chanson d’Avril with Nicole Cabell, and French Horn Recital from 24 Preludes, Op. 11—Alexander Scriabin with Lyric Opera principal horn Jonathan Boen. His latest recording project with Joyce DiDonato, Songplay, released by Warner Classics, received the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Mr. Terry has appeared on numerous television, radio, and streaming programs, including multiple appearances on both Live From Lincoln Center and Great Performances for PBS, as well as on many programs broadcast on NBC, ABC, and CBS. In May 2021, he was the pianist for the Metropolitan Opera’s Wagnerians in Concert, transmitted from the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany.