Yuriria Rodriguez
Performing Arts: Music, Vocal; term
Yuriria Rodríguez
Bio
Costa Rican soprano Yuriria Rodríguez holds the rare privilege of being able to sing in both classical and popular styles with great professionalism, expression, and accuracy of style. Reviews have praised Ms. Rodríguez as a singer “with a beautiful voice which recalls a force of nature” (Herald Times, Bloomington, IN), and as “The real deal” (Fanfare , November 2011, USA). In 2006, she sang the role of Maria in the tango-operita by A. Piazzolla and H.Ferrer, Maria de Buenos Aires, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, receiving a standing ovation in a sold out performance. In the classical realm, Ms. Rodríguez also successfully performed known roles such as Despina in W.A. Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte (Costa Rica) and Mimí in Puccini’s La Bohème (Costa Rica), as well as new opera roles, such as Chanfalla in G. Diriés Puppeteer’s String, and One of the Three Rosales sisters in Indiana University’s collegiate premiere of Oswaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, conducted by Carmen Helena Téllez.
Ms. Rodríguez holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from Indiana University—Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Teresa Kubiak and Carlos Montané and Mary Ann Hart. As a member of El Taller, at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music, she had the opportunity to share the stage with prominent guest musicians and Jacobs School of Music faculty, such as Grammy Award Winners Pablo Ziegler, Pablo Aslan, Michael Spiro, Gonzalo Grau and Sylvia McNair among many others.
She has been a winner at the National Society of Arts and Letters voice competition, in Bloomington, Indiana, and a winner of the 9th Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America, which allowed her to tour the United States as an artist sponsored by the Embassy of Spain, giving recitals of Zarzuela and Latin American/Spanish Art Song. Among other honors received while in school, she was awarded the Olimpia Barbera scholarship from the Latin American Music Center at IU to pursue studies in voice at the level of Master in Music.
Other solo performances include the Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Richard Tang Yuk at Indiana University. She debuted at the Indiana Opera program as Suor Osmina in the 2011 production of Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and was casted again that summer to sing for the new opera The Tales of Lady Thi Kihn, by P. Q. Phan. In 2011 she sang the Soprano II role in Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor with the Philharmonic of Kalamazoo in the Bach Festival in Kalamazoo, MI, conducted by Prof. James Turner. Recently, Yuriria sang the role of Sombra, in the world premiere and +30 performances of Gabriela Ortiz’s Ana y su Sombra, commissioned by Reimagining Opera for Kids, a local Opera Company that Yuriria is proudly part of, and that performs all year round. Last year, Yuriria was called to be the cover for the role of Mimi in Costa Rica’s National Lyric Opera Production of La Bohème.
Currently, Yuriria works as Associate Director of Hispanic Music at Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis, where she conducts the Coro Latinoamericano and develops a bilingual choral program for early music learners. Occasionally, she can be heard singing as a guest soloist for the Choir of Men and Choristers of Christ Church. Because of her achievements, artistry and work in both Popular and Classical singing in the American Mid-West, last year, the United States granted her the E11 Visa for Individuals of Extraordinary Ability in the Field of the Arts.
