Biography 

      Laura Elena is a Cuban-American soprano hailing from Miami, Florida.  With a full-lyric voice,  she has won various awards and has had the opportunity to perform some of the most dynamic roles in the operatic canon. Her voice has been described as a "sizeable soprano with a richly colored middle register" (South Florida Classical Review.) Recent awards include the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2023/2021) and First Place Winner of the St. Petersburg Opera Guild Competition (2023.) Some of her most recent roles include La Contessa in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Miami Beach Classical Music Festival,) Magda Sorel in Menotti's The Consul under the direction of Patricia Racette (San Francisco Conservatory of Music,) Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen (Miami Beach Classical Music Festival,) La Bergère and La chouette in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Stetson University,) Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Stetson University,) Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (New York Lyric Opera Theatre,) Geraldine in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (Stetson University,) as well as the opportunity to cover the title role of Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Opera Lucca.) Laura has also had the opportunity to portray characters through scene work such as: Fiordiligi (Cosí fan Tutte,) Florencia (Florencia en el Amazonas,) and Agathe (Der Freischütz.)

     Laura holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University and has recently earned her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Through her training at each of these institutions, Laura has been able to hone her craft and continue her studies through scene work and new music exploration. 

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     Laura Elena prides herself on her passion for spreading the love of music and performance to the next generation as well as her peers. In turn, she has developed keen collaborative and educational skills. Not only has she been teaching private classical and musical theatre voice lessons for eight years, but she is also a former teaching artist and education & community engagement coordinator at Little Opera, where she worked with students across the San Francisco Bay Area to lead them in the creation of new opera. At the collegiate level, Laura acted as a Student Director for scenes from Offenbach's, Les contes d’Hoffman (Stetson University Opera Theatre, 2018) as well as scenes from Britten's, The Turn of the Screw (San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 2023)