First Prize and Zarzuela Prize at the 2019 Operalia Competition, acclaimed for her fine lyric voice and outstanding musicality, the French-Guatemalan soprano Adriana González is one of the most promising singers of her generation.

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Born in Guatemala in 1991, González began her studies with Barbara Bickford shortly after finishing high school in 2008. A year later she won the New Upcoming Artist Award from the Hemeroteca Nacional de Guatemala. She went on to study at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, graduating in 2012 with a Music Teaching Degree and a Bachelor of Arts.

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In 2012, the Basque conductor Iñaki Encina Oyón discovered her during a tour with the World Youth Choir in Cyprus and invited her to perform in Paris in 2013. Soon after, she was heard by Christian Schirm and invited to join the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra National de Paris, where she sang Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Despina (Così fan tutte). On completing the programme, she received the 2017 Prix Lyrique from the Cercle Carpeaux for her outstanding artistic development. In 2017/18 she joined the International Opera Studio of Zurich Opera, at the invitation of coach and director Brenda Hurley.​

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Her most notable roles include Micaëla (Carmen) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Oper Frankfurt, Dutch National Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Opéra de Toulon, the Sanxay Festival, in Barcelona and in Lausanne. She has sung Liù (Turandot) at Houston Grand Opera, the Opéra de Toulon, the Opéra National du Rhin, the Opéra de Paris-Bastille, the Liceu, the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Staatsoper Berlin and the Opéra de Dijon. Her Mimì (La Bohème) has been heard at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Opéra de Toulon and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has sung Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) at Houston Grand Opera, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) at the Staatsoper Hamburg, and the Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Opéra National de Lorraine, Oper Frankfurt and in Luxembourg. She also sang the Contessa recently at the Salzburg Festival, where she was a great success and the first Guatemalan to perform at the festival. Other roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at Oper Burg Gars, Corinna (Il viaggio a Reims) at the Liceu, Lia (Debussy’s L’Enfant prodigue) at the Nancy Opera House, the title role in Suor Angelica in Copenhagen, Salud (La vida breve) in Madrid and Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) in Zurich.

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On the concert stage, she has performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (cond. Fabio Luisi), in Lisbon (cond. Lorenzo Viotti) and in Oviedo (cond. Nuno Coelho). She has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Parma (cond. Fabio Luisi) and at Boston Symphony Hall (cond. Raphaël Pichon), and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (cond. Marek Janowski) at the Tokyo Spring Festival.

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Her first recording, devoted to the songs of Robert Dussaut and Hélène Covatti with Iñaki Encina Oyón at the piano, was released by Audax Records in spring 2020. It was warmly welcomed by critics, received the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and was selected by Le Monde. In 2021 she recorded the complete songs of Isaac Albéniz for Audax, and in November 2023 she released an album of French duets with mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti. González and Encina continue to work on lied and mélodie, focusing on rediscovering lesser-known composers, a project heard at the LIFE Victoria Festival in Barcelona, the Opéra de Lille, the Opéra de Dijon and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

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She works regularly with vocal technique teachers Michelle Wegwart and Hedwig Fassbender, conductor Iñaki Encina Oyón, and coaches Alfredo Abbati and Ed Lidall.

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Her plans for her upcoming season and beyond include Desdemona (Otello) at the Opéra National du Rhin and in Toulouse, Micaëla in Madrid and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Contessa at the Vienna State Opera and in Barcelona, Fiordiligi with the Vienna State Opera in Monte Carlo, Verdi’s Requiem in Zurich, and Liù at Paris-Bastille.

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For more concerts & performances, visit the CALENDAR.