Olga Perez Flora

“Olga Perez sang with smoky tones and proved to be a dependable companion for Carmen.” ~International News/Opera Japonica, October 2005

Cuban-American mezzo-soprano, Olga Perez Flora was the first prize winner of the American Prize: Women in Song & Oratorio 2022 and has performed several roles and recitals with companies across the United States, Cuba, and in Italy. Dr. Flora’s recording of Cuban songs named Canciones de mi Corazon is set to release January of 2025 and she will also sing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in the Spring of 2025.

Most recently featured in the opera Frida by Rodriguez with Opera Southwest as the fiery Lupe Rivera and as the Mother and the Sea in Jorge Martin’s Before Night Falls, she has performed with opera companies and symphonies across the country and internationally and is best known for her sultry Carmen, which she has performed numerous times, including her debut with Amarillo Opera. Recent performance highlights include the title role of Carmen in Carmen with Opera Southwest, mezzo-soprano soloist in the Verdi Requiem in Rome, Italy with Performance International, and the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes with Chatter. Dr. Flora was featured in Michael Ching’s Completing the Picture (November 2020 release) which was recorded and filmed remotely during the pandemic, for Opera Company Middlebury.

Opera roles include performances with Opera Southwest/Carmen (Carmen), Zorro (Toypurina)and Before Night Falls (Mother & Sea), Opera Company Middlebury/A Streetcar Named Desire (Eunice), Opera Columbus/Madama Butterfly (Suzuki), Erie Chamber Orchestra/Die Zauberflöte (Third Lady), Arizona Opera/La Cenerentola (Tisbe), Opera in the Heights/Don Giovanni (Zerlina), Opera Company Middlebury/Eugene Onegin (Olga), Northeast Symphony/La Traviata (Flora), Amhurst Orchestra/Carmen (Carmen), New Jersey Opera Theater/Gianni Schicci (Zita), Lyric Opera Theater/Ariadne auf Naxos (Der Komponist) Opera Festival di Roma/Le Nozze di Figaro (Marcellina) and more.

Orchestral soloist highlights include Verdi Requiem with the Hollywood Concert Series, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt at Disney Hall, Hayden’s Lord Nelson Mass and Bach’s Cantata BWV 4 with the Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, a concert in NYC with the Jupiter Chamber Symphony Players in Alkan’s Marcia funerale morte d’un pappagallo, and a New Year’s Eve performance with the North State Symphony. Recent performances include concerts featuring her as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9^th symphony with the University of Redlands, West Side Story highlights with the Reno Philharmonic, and a concert with Cuban composer Leo Brouwer from Havana, Cuba.

Internationally known as a recitalist, Dr. Flora was the first prize winner of the American Prize: Women in Song & Oratorio 2022 and has performed several recitals with companies across the United States, Cuba, and in Italy. She has also created a Cuban Song Recital named Canciones de mi Isla: Songs from my Island, featuring Cuban composers, poets and collaborators that has been enthusiastically received by audiences. In the Spring of 2019, Dr. Flora travelled to Havana, Cuba to perform in two concerts with Cuban composers José María Vitier and Leo Brouwer in her first visit to her families’ homeland.

Dr. Flora is currently an Associate Professor of Voice and Head of Voice at the University of New Mexico and the Artistic Director of the Gobbi Villa summer young artist program in Rome, Italy. More information at olgaperezflora.com