Cecilia Duarte
Praised as a “creamy-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times) who “soars and glides with crystalline beauty” (OperaWire), Cecilia Duarte has established herself as a commanding performer across repertoires both old and new. She has earned critical acclaim for her work on both the concert stage and as a recording artist, including as a soloist on the GRAMMY® Award-winning album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works.
A passionate champion for early music, Duarte has appeared as Dido in the Baroque-inspired Queen of Carthage with Early Music Vancouver and re:Naissance Opera, Melissa in F. Caccini’s Alcina at the Boston Early Music Festival, and La Messaggera in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Ars Lyrica Houston. During the 2026/27 season, Duarte looks forward to returning engagements with Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Houston, Bach Collegium San Diego, Tafelmusik, Arizona Early Music, and Boston Early Music Festival, in addition to her Seattle Bach Festival debut. Past collaborations also include Piffaro, Blue Heron, and The Newberry Consort.
In 2010, Duarte created the role of Renata in the first-ever mariachi opera, José “Pepe” Martínez’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, which saw performances at Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Fort Worth Opera, El Paso Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera San Antonio, Teatro Nacional Sucre (Ecuador), Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), and New York City Opera, among others. She also portrayed Renata in the 2019 world premiere of Javier Martínez’s El Milagro del Recuerdo, offering “singing [that goes] straight to the character’s heart” (Texas Classical Review). Other operatic roles include Linda Morales in Laura Kaminsky’s Hometown to the World, Sarelda in Robert Paterson’s The Inspector, Maria in Astor Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires, and Loma Williams in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree, among others.
In 2022, Duarte recorded her first solo album, Reencuentros, a collection of Latin American folk songs described by Fanfare as “superb, featuring an ideal natural balance of presence, color, and detail.” Her second album, Lullabies, is forthcoming. Her discography also includes collaborations with the Boston Early Music Festival (Carissimi’s Jephte and Motets), the Benedict XVI Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Richard Sparks (Requiem for the Forgotten, Messe des Malades), and Houston Grand Opera (Cruzar la Cara de la Luna), among others. On film, she has played Marisol in Dreams Have No Borders and Alma in “Boundless,” the first episode of the mini-opera series Star-Cross’d.
Cecilia holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the University of Houston, as well as a second master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University. Alongside her performing career, she is a licensed therapist providing mental health services to the arts community.