Rachel Willis-Sørensen | Soprano | Utah District – 2008
Ms. Willis-Sørensen is a graduate student at the Brigham Young University School of Music from where she received her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance in April, 2008. In 2009, Rachel won first place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullum competition and was invited to join the HGO Studio this fall where she will be playing the role of Masha in Pique Dame. She made her professional debut at Utah Festival Opera in 2008 where she sang the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida. She also appeared as Kate Pinkerton in Utah Opera’s 2008 production of Madama Butterfly. In 2008 she participated in the National Semi-finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions on stage at the Met after having won both the Utah District and Rocky-Mountain Regional finals of the same competition. In her stay at BYU she has performed the roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, La Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Musetta in La Bohème. Her stage credits also include The Evil Queen in Semour Barab’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Washington East Opera’s Bravo Troupe), Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and Meg Boyd in Damn Yankees. In 2007 she won the Nancy Peery Marriot BYU Singer of the Year award, recorded a CD for BYU’s Sofie’s Daughters Organization, and participated in the AIMS program in Graz, Austria. Rachel was awarded first place at Musicfest Northwest in 2005 where she appeared in concert with the Spokane Symphony. She was the 2007-2008 recipient of the Shirley Oscarson Scholarship. Rachel is a student of Darrell Babidge.