Described as having “a strikingly beautiful voice with a glorious top and a rich middle,” soprano Calista Smith will be singing Cleopatra in CCM’s production of Giulio Cesare this February. She will also be the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Tariq O’Regan’s Critical Mass (East Coast premiere) with the City Choir of Washington this fall. Most recently, she was a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera this summer, where she sang the Shepherd in Tosca at the Filene Center under the direction of Ryan and Tonya McKinny and the baton of Maestro José Luis Gómez. This year, Calista was named a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition’s North Carolina District, as well as an Encouragement Award winner from the Southeast Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. During her two summers at the Aspen Music Festival, she appeared as the German woman in Jimmy Lopez's Bel Canto and covered Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. This past year, Calista began her master’s degree at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Professor Gwen Coleman. She earned a BM in voice and opera and a BA in communications from Northwestern University, where she sang Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Cendrillon in Cendrillon, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Oberto in Alcina, and the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Mass in C Major.

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