
Cassandra Zoé Velasco
The Mexican mezzo-soprano has built an international and versatile career, standing out for her virtuosity in the baroque and bel canto repertoire, as well as for her commanding stage presence in contemporary works. She has performed on renowned stages such as The Metropolitan Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colón, and Palacio de Bellas Artes.
At the age of twenty-five, she made her debut at the Met, becoming the youngest Mexican to do so and the first to participate in its World Broadcast. Her repertoire includes roles by composers such as Rossini, Mozart, Bizet, Donizetti, Vivaldi, Gluck, Massenet, Puccini, and Piazzolla, in addition to premiering works by Perla, Foglia, and Kaminsky.
She has worked under the baton of acclaimed conductors including James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Plácido Domingo, James Conlon, and Mark Elder, and has received particular praise for her performances in Rossini operas. She won the Concurso Carlo Morelli in 2011 and has represented Mexico in the Operalia competition, the Montserrat Caballé Competition, the Competizione dell’Opera, and the Teatro Colón Competition. She is a graduate of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera and has received grants from SIVAM and FONCA.
She is currently the Artistic Coordinator of Estudio de la Ópera de Bellas Artes.