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The Mexican mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Duarte, obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Vocal Performance from University of Houston, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts; and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance from University of Houston, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts (2018-2020).
Cecilia Duarte is a versatile singer that has performed around the world singing a variety of music styles, especially early and contemporary music. She has been greatly recognized for creating the role of Renata in the first Mariachi Opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera (HGO) in 2010. She has taken this opera to stages such as the Houston Grand Opera, Châtelet Theatre in Paris, France; Chicago Lyric Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, The Fort Worth Opera, Teatro Nacional Sucre, in Quito, Ecuador, New York City Opera (2017-2018), and El Paso Opera. Since then, she has created other roles for world premieres of chamber operas and new works, such as Jessie Lydell in A Coffin in Egypt, (HGO and the Wallis Annenberg Center in Los Angeles); Gracie in A Way Home (HGO and Opera Southwest); Harriet/First Responder in After the Storm (HGO); Alicia in Some Light Emerges (HGO); and Alma in the first episode of Houston Grand Opera’s first web opera series Star-cross’d, which received a Telly Award.
Operatic roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Loma Williams in Cold Sassy Tree, Isabella in Rapaccini’s Daughter, Sarelda in The Inspector, Tituba in The Crucible, and Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires, among others. Cecilia also premiered the prequel to Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, reprising the role of Renata in El Milagro del Recuerdo, also with Houston Grand Opera.
Her experience in early music include performances with Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Houston, and The Bach Society Houston, as well as the Fesitvalensemble in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Festival de Música Barroca de San Miguel de Allende, México. She is also a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble (since September 2019), performing early and contemporary music. Since May 2021, she is also Stage Director at Houston Grand Opera.
Recordings include Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, with Albany Records, NY; soloist in the Grammy winner album Maurice Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works with Signum Records (for which she has been praised by The New York Times as "A creamy voiced mezzo-soprano"), a special appearance in "Encantamiento", an album with music by Daniel Catán, and her upcoming and first solo album of Latin American songs, "Reencuentros", produced by mulitple time Grammy winner, Blanton Alspaugh. |
