soprano
"My mission as an artist is to make connections: Connections to an audience, connections with my colleagues, and most importantly connections to characters and ways of life other than my own."
About
Known for her floating high notes and rich middle range, soprano Hillary Esqueda is a versatile lyric soprano emerging in the opera scene. Described as a “powerful” and “solid” performer, Ms. Esqueda strives to find and communicate the personal truth of each character she portrays.
Roles performed include: Mimi (La Bohème), Drusilla (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Popelka (Comedy on the Bridge), Marie (La Fille du Régiment), Sophie (Werther), Marzelline (Fidelio), First Lady (Magic Flute), and Frasquita (Carmen).
She also had the fortune to perform as a young artist and apprentice with Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, Pacific Encore Performances, and Underworld Productions. In summer 2016 she attended OperaWorks’ Advanced Artist Program where she explored her artistry in a four-week intensive culminating an improv opera performance. In summer 2022 she traveled to Cancun, Mexico to perform around the Yucatan Peninsula with OperaMaya as a Young Artist during their summer festival.
A passion for modern and 21st Century opera led her to create three roles for composer Francis Lynch in the world premieres of Voices at Domrémy (Yvonne), For Those in Peril (Gwendolyn) and Joseph’s Gift (Mary). Aaron Hunt of Chicago Theatre Review described her performance of Mary as "appropriately serene...with a flowing and pitch-perfect voice that sets the bar high for any soprano undertaking this role in the future." Hillary also appeared in the Midwest premiere of With Blood, With Ink as legendary poet, scholar and nun Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz in Third Eye Theater Ensemble’s intimate store-front production. Hillary joined the company again in 2019 for their production of Darkling (Soprano Anna) by Stefan Weisman and Anna Rabinowitz. In November 2022 she made her company debut with Thompson St. Opera performing as the role of Agnes in the one-act opera Redencion.
Hillary won Second Place in both the Da Capo International Vocal Competition, and in The American Prize (Women in Opera Division) in 2020 and was a Contract Winner in Piccola Opera’s Opera Idol Competition.
Hillary received her Bachelor’s degree in Music from NYU’s Steinhardt School and her Master’s from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Hillary currently lives in Chicago and studies with Countertenor Mark Crayton. Up next, she will be returning to Evanston Chamber Opera as Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief.
Listen
Kto ti moj angel li hranitel from Eugene Onegin
Kto ti moj angel li hranitel from Eugene Onegin
Signore, Ascolta! from Turandot (Puccini) with the OperaMaya Orchestra
Pie Jesu from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem
Photos
PC: Clint Funk
PC: Clint Funk
Resume
Current Resume
Curriculum Vitae
"[Ms. Esqueda] was appropriately serene...with a flowing and pitch-perfect voice that sets the bar high for any soprano undertaking this role in the future."
-Aaron Hunt
Chicago Theater Review
Joseph's Gift (Mary)
World Premiere
Performances
Upcoming & Recent Performances
EChO presents From the Studio:
The Old Maid and the Thief & Bon Appetit!
Hillary was excited to return to Evanston Chamber Opera as Laetitia for their double bill titled From the Studio featuring The Old Maid and the Thief, the first opera written intentionally for radio, and Bon Appetit! based on the script of a TV show as Julia Child prepares a chocolate cake.
February 15, 17 at 7:30pm, & 18th at 3:00pm
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
2120 Lincoln Street, Evanston
The Immigrant Mass
As a part of Roosevelt's Alumni Chorus, Hillary lent her voice to the virtual and live premieres of Carlos Jaquez Gonzalez's The Immigrant Mass, a multimedia performance using the traditional text and musical structure of a mass in juxtaposition to images and real-life accounts of immigrants at the border.