Bio
American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is known for her portrayal of Verdi heroines, performing roles such as Leonora, Elisabetta and Desdemona, as part of her seasons that also include Mozart, Strauss, Puccini and Wagner, among other composers. A regular guest at the leading opera houses around the world, Le Monde enthused, “…the American soprano has without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world. The timbre, of marmoreal beauty, is striking, the projection telluric…” In recent seasons, she has performed at leading opera houses around the world – both in operas and in concert – and is a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staastoper, and Royal Ballet and Opera. She has released two acclaimed solo albums for Sony, and in 2025, she was honored with the Beverly Sills Artist Award.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen’s 2025/26 season showcases a range of major house returns, concert performances, and two highly anticipated role debuts. She begins the season with her role debut in the title role of Thaïs at the Théâtre du Capitole and makes another significant role debut as Arabella at the Metropolitan Opera. She returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and as Leonora in Il trovatore, and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, she reprises the role of Violetta in La traviata. She appears as Elsa in Lohengrin at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper. On the concert stage, she joins the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and performs Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Basque National Orchestra. The season concludes with her return to the Glyndebourne Festival in the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos.
Previous engagements include Norma at the Staatsoper Berlin, Elisabeth (Don Carlos) (in French) with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Grand Théâtre de Genève , Elisabetta (Don Carlo) with Teatro di San Carlo and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Rusalka (Rusalka) at the San Francisco Opera and NDR Hamburg, Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at Opéra national de Paris, Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) at Glyndebourne, Semperoper Dresden, Santa Fe Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Violetta (La Traviata) at Opéra national de Bordeaux, LA Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper, and at the Philharmonie de Paris, Marguerite (Faust) as part of the Royal Opera House’s tour of Japan, Elsa (Lohengrin) at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, Bayerische Staatsoper and Oper Frankfurt, Desdemona (Otello) at the Wiener Staatsoper, LA Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) on tour to Hong Kong with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mimi (La Bohème) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Wiener Staatsoper and Semperoper Dresden, Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Wiener Staatsoper, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wiener Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Semperoper Dresden, Hélène (Les Vêpres siciliennes) at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Elena in the Italian version (I Vespri Siciliani) at the Wiener Staatsoper, Valentine (Les Huguenots) at the Grand Théâtre Genève, Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Wiener Staatsoper, Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) at the Houston Grand Opera, Leonore (Fidelio) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, and Leonora (Il Trovatore) at the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Equally at home on the concert stage, concert work is an important part of each season. She is especially known for her interpretation of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, including notably at Buckingham Palace for an HRH Prince Charles birthday celebration. She made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in April 2024. Her repertoire includes Mahler’s 2nd, 4th and 8th Symphonies, Mendelssohn’s Elias, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, and the Verdi Requiem, that she has performed with orchestras such as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2021, Rachel signed a multi-record deal with Sony Classical. Her debut album, Rachel, was released in 2022, and her second CD, Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, was released in 2023. She is also featured on several duets on Jonas Kaufmann’s album, Wien.
Rachel holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Brigham Young University and is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. She won first prize at the 2014 Operalia competition in Los Angeles and at the 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and she was a winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a member of the ensemble at the Dresdner Semperoper for three years. An active presence on social media, she can be found on instagram, facebook and tiktok @rachewillissorensen and on X under @RWSing.
