LARISA
MARTINEZ
Soprano
BIOGRAPHY
Puerto Rican opera singer Larisa Martínez is praised and sought after for her “smoky soprano” (Opera News), gracing top stages and collaborating with household names of today for performances that seamlessly bridge the worlds of opera, symphonic music, and crossover repertoire.
Martinez made her Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall debuts in 2019 – the former in recital and the latter performing Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Athens Philharmonic. She has since appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony, among others. International highlights include appearances at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens alongside Mario Frangoulis, Seoul’s KSPO Dome, and Chile’s Viña del Mar festival with Andrea Bocelli, as well as performances of Villa-Lobos’ Floresta do Amazonas with the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Marcelo Lehninger.
Martinez has toured extensively as a featured guest of legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli, appearing before sold-out audiences at iconic venues including the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. Her “Voice and the Violin” program, created with Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, has visited the Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Pacific Symphony, and Colorado Symphony, among others. In July 2026, she made her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut as a featured guest of Japanese composer, pianist, and rock icon, Yoshiki.
As a champion of new music, Martínez continues to expand the vocal repertoire through contemporary collaborations. In 2025, she and Joshua Bell premiered a new song cycle by Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano based on the poetry of Tennessee Williams, a work currently being orchestrated for future symphonic performances. In the upcoming season, Martínez and Bell will premiere two additional works written for them by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican-Mexican composer Bayoán Escribano.
On the operatic stage, Martinez’s roles include Violetta in La Traviata (Wichita Grand Opera), Sophie in Werther opposite tenor Piotr Beczala (Culturarte), and Maria in West Side Story alongside tenor Michael Fabiano (Festival Napa Valley). She originated the role of Isaura in the World Premiere of Saverio Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini in Italy under the baton of Fabio Luisi. That same year, she won the 2016 Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in Puerto Rico.
Martinez was invited to join President Barack Obama’s artistic delegation to Cuba in 2016. The historic cultural exchange culminated in the Emmy®-nominated PBS special, Live from Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba.
Committed to expanding access to the arts, Martínez serves as an artistic resident with Turnaround Arts, an initiative of the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. She is equally devoted to celebrating her Puerto Rican heritage by championing Latin American voices and reflecting the richness of Boricua culture through music and storytelling.
