Grammy Award-winning soprano Ana María Martínez, originally from Puerto Rico, performs the role of Bridal Shop Owner in West Side Story this season at HGO, singing the show-stopping number “Somewhere.” Martínez is considered one of the foremost sopranos of her time, with an international career that spans the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls. From 2019 to 2024, Martínez served as HGO’s first-ever Artistic Advisor. Following a two-year appointment as Artist-in-Residence at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, in 2021 she became a Professor in the university’s Department of Voice. She is honored to have been a 2021 recipient of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Hispanic Heritage Award in the Arts. Martínez has a storied history with HGO, performing roles including Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly (2010, 2015), the title role in Carmen (2014), Marguerite in Faust (2016), and Florencia in Florencia en el Amazonas (2019). Elsewhere this 2024-25 season Martínez performs with Los Angeles Opera as both Margarita Xirgu in Ainadamar and Despina in Così fan tutte, and makes her house debut at Pittsburgh Opera in the title role of Tosca. The 2023-24 season saw her perform the roles of Maria Boccanegra/Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at Opera Philadelphia, make her role debut as Catrina in El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego with Los Angeles Opera, and sing Cio-Cio-San in a concert performance of Madame Butterfly at the Grand Tetons Music Festival. Martínez’s career highlights include Cio-Cio San and Musetta in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera; the title role in Rusalka at the Glyndebourne Festival and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; the title role in Luisa Miller and the Countess in The Marriage Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera; Violetta in La traviata, Donna Elvira, and Cio-Cio San at London’s Royal Ballet and Opera; Donna Elvira at San Francisco Opera; Nedda in I Pagliacci, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Rusalka at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Mimì, Violetta, Nedda, and the title role in Carmen at Los Angeles Opera; and her major roles with HGO.