Hailing from the southwest region of the United States, mezzo soprano Maria Elena Armijo recognized her calling at an early age. Upon obtaining a Bachelor of Music degree from New Mexico State University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Washington, Ms. Armijo’s musical journey unavoidably led her to New York City, where she is fast becoming a formidable entity in her realm. Best known for her honesty, warmth and generosity, Ms. Armijo is a unique vocal talent whose skills lend themselves easily and beautifully to a wide range of repertoire, including oratorio, opera, operetta, jazz and musical theater. Her total commitment, extraordinary dramatic skills and overall grace easily transport audiences into the life of any character she is portraying.

Ms. Armijo’s ever broadening repertoire includes Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Fyodor (Boris Godunov), Lady Pamela (Fra Diavolo), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Amastre (Serse), Adah (The Naughty Marietta), Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), Annina (La Traviata), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette), The Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas), Mercédès (Carmen), and Marianne (The Cat That Turned into a Woman), Aminta (Il Re Pastore), L’Enfant (L’Enfant et les Sortiléges), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Venus (Orphée aux Enfers), and Zita (Gianni Schicchi).

Ms. Armijo has sung with companies throughout the United States and Europe. Some of these include Utah Festival of Musical Theater and Opera, Riverfront Opera, Bronx Opera, Pocket Opera of New York, Light Opera of New York, New Rochelle Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, Syracuse Opera, Dicapo Opera Theatre, Empire Opera, Bay View Music Festival, Tacoma Opera, Bellevue Opera, Off-Center Opera, Dona Ana Lyric Opera, America Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS), and OperaWorks.

Concert appearances for Ms. Armijo include the world premiere of The Music of Georgia Shreve and Alvin Singleton at Carnegie Hall with Ideation Productions and a soloist in the Tweetheart Concert with Sympho Orchestra. Ms. Armijo is equally at home singing Pops concerts and has been seen as the soloist in a Christmas Pops celebration with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. Oratorio work for Ms. Armijo includes Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, Haydn Mass in Time of War, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, Bach’s Cantata 156 and Bach’s St. John’s Passion. Ms. Armijo has also appeared as a guest soloist for the Golden Key Music Institute Recital Series, Gateway Music Society and the El Paso Summer Music Festival.

This season Ms. Armijo will perform a third season with the Golden Key Music Institute, the role of Ms. Nolan in The medium and Lady Thiang in The King and I. For more information please visit ElenaArmijo.com.