I dreamed a dream of this happening, but I could never have imagined the details,” soprano Ailyn Pérez said in an interview about her experiences as an artist for the online series Living the Classical Life. “I’m aware that I need to create the narrative I’m hoping for,” she added. “Going forward, I don’t want to sing out of fear, I don’t want to sing out of ‘It’s all or nothing right now.’”

Pérez was born in Chicago to parents who immigrated from Mexico, and she went on to attend Indiana University and then the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia before launching an international career just months after graduating from the latter by joining tenor Andrea Bocelli on tour as a guest soprano.

In the years since, Pérez has become one of the opera world’s most in-demand stars, with prestigious engagements including the Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, among many others. In the US, she’s appeared with such leading opera companies as the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Dallas, Houston Grand, Metropolitan, San Francisco, and Santa Fe operas.

Hailed as a “captivating singer with unflappable technique and abundant vocal power” by the Chicago Sun Times and praised for her “lovely vivacity” and “radiant sound” by The New York Times, Pérez is renowned for her versatility. She released her debut album, Poème d’un jour, in 2013 to critical acclaim, and she’s appeared in concert with Antonio Pappano and Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Essen Philharmoniker as well as in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center plus here in New Mexico with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.

Pérez has received numerous honors throughout her career, including The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 Beverly Sills Artist Award, and in 2012, she became the first Hispanic recipient of the Richard Tucker Award. On July 23 at noon, you can catch Pérez live when she makes her Festival debut alongside internationally renowned pianist Julius Drake on an intimate recital program that features Schumann’s emotional song cycle Frauenliebe und Leben and moving sets of songs by Strauss, Turina, and Montsalvatge.