Melissa Sondhi

Soprano Melissa Sondhi returns to Opera San José as an Artist-in-Residence for the 2023-24 season to make three role debuts. Her previous appearances with the company include Barbarina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro during the 2022-23 season and the First Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas during the 2021-22 season. Local critics have applauded Sondhi for “a voice that is nothing short of wowing” (TheatreEddys), for her “effortless performance” (Opera Tattler), for her  “shimmering, agile soprano” and “remarkable dynamic range” (Operaville), and for singing “with delight and conviction” (Cordell Reports). Previous roles include Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème (San Francisco Opera Guild), Le feu and Le rossignol in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges (Air Opera Collective), Angelina in Arthur Sullivan and William Schwenck Gilbert’s Trial by Jury (Lyric Theatre of San José), and Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (Pocket Opera). In 2023, Sondhi won first place in the Adult Classical Voice category at the Los Angeles Semifinals of the Music International Grand Prix competition and was also a semifinalist in the Orpheus Vocal Competition in 2021.