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MARÍA FERNANDA CASTILLO
soprano

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RECENT AND UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS

-  Cio-cio-san in Madama Butterfly, at Estonian National Opera and Theater Lübeck;


- Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Amelia in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz, the title role in Rusalka, Elle in Menotti's The Telephone and Fiora in Montemezzi's L'Amore dei Tre Re, at the Theater Lübeck.

BIOGRAPHY

Mexican soprano María Fernanda Castillo began her career as a popular singer in Xalapa, Veracruz. In her discovery of the opera world, she participated in the “Carlo Morelli” competition, winning the “Youth Revelation” award, at the age of 21. In the same year, she was selected by the International Society of Mexican Art Values ​​(SIVAM), where she had the opportunity to work with renowned masters of the métier and received a scholarship to reach opera festivals such as “The International Vocal Arts Institute” in Canada and Israel, as well as programs and coachings in New York and Mexico.

In 2013, she was selected for the first Young Artist program in Mexico (EOBA), directed by the renowned tenor Ramón Vargas. Later, in 2014, she debuted at the Ópera de Bellas Artes de México, as Inès in Il Trovatore.

In 2018, she made her international debut at the San Diego Opera, as Rosalba in the opera Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catán.

Since 2019, she has been a member of the ensemble of Theater Lübeck, where she performed main roles such as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Violetta La Traviata and the title-role in Dvořák’s Rusalka. In 2020, with hudge success, she sang La Voix humaine by F. Poulenc. In 2022, she made her debut as Cio-cio-san in Madama Butterfly and sang the role of Fiora in L’Amore dei Tre Re, from the Italian composer Italo Montemezzi.

Among her next engagements, María Fernanda will debut at the Estonian National Opera, singing the title-role in Madama Butterfly.

REVIEWS

"A real ray of hope in all the (stage design) gray is María Fernanda Castillo. Her way of playing the purity of Desdemona, who is wrongly accused, is touching - and even more so is her singing, with which she holds the listener breathless."
Detlef Obens - Das Opernmagazin
 
"The young soprano Maria Fernanda Castillo was outstanding in the ensemble in the role of Violetta. She started out nervous, which is not surprising given such a difficult role debut. After singing her freedom, she showed off all her vocal qualities, from heartfelt piano passages to the wildest dramatic outbursts. The Mexican gave her all in terms of acting; she physically pushed herself to the limits of what was possible. If Maria Fernanda Castillo consistently follows this path, then this “La Traviata” was her first step to fame."
Jürgen Feldhoff - Lübecker Nachrichten
 
"Rather, something decisive, resolute and in a certain way - remember, she was only 15 when she got married - capricious pubertal permeates her character. This image, which becomes more apparent as the action progresses, is reinforced by María Fernanda Castillo's impressively effervescent soprano, whose presence claims the entire stage space and which cannot be displaced even by the loudest tonal infusions of the hot orchestra in the pit."
André Sperber - Concerti
 

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