Music and Musicians

Priya Palekar

Soprano

Critically acclaimed soprano Priya Palekar has captivated audiences across Europe and the Americas with her expressive voice and considerable dramatic capabilities. Praised by the Wiener Kronenzeitung as having “a soaring, impressive voice of uncommon beauty” and “infallible stage instincts”, Ms. Palekar’s repertoire includes roles such as Mimì in La Bohème, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, Fiordiligi in Così Fan Tutte, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Liù in Turandot, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Dvorák’s Rusalka. Currently based in Berlin, she has sung with San Diego Opera, Münchner Symphoniker, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Berliner Konzerthaus, Theater Bielefeld, Landestheater Niederbayern, Theater Lüneburg, Teatro Verdi (Sardegna), Opernfestival Gut Immling, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Center for Performing Arts (Mumbai), Arizona Opera, and Lyric Opera San Diego among others.

This season she can be heard as Nedda in Hamburg Allée Theater’s new production of I Pagliacci, in Theater Brandenburg as the soprano soloist in the Dvorák Requiem, as Micaela in Carmen, and as the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica at Oper Schloß Kronburg. American audiences can also hear her as the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Other performances include recitals in Berlin, Konstanz and San Sebastian (Spain), featuring music by Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Dvorák with pianist Kevin McCutcheon.

Priya Palekar has collaborated with conductors such as Eduardo Müller, Richard Bonynge, Stephen Lord, Christof Perick, Steuart Bedford, Georg Schmöhe, Cornelius Eberhardt, Kelly Kuo, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Page, William Reber and directors Michael Hampe, John Copley, Martin Phillipp, Sonja Frisell, Bodo Igesz, Linda Brovsky, Elizabeth Bachman, Leon Natker, Jack Montgomery, and Dale Dreyfoos.

Ms. Palekar began her career in the Young Artist Ensemble of San Diego Opera where she made her mainstage debut in 2007 as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Eduardo Müller and alongside an international cast.

Ms. Palekar holds Vocal/Opera Performance degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Arizona State University, where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2010. She is a recipient of numerous awards and honors including prizes from the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the Igor Gorin Memorial Award, the Morava Young Artist Award from San Diego Opera, and the Arizona Opera League Scholarship.