Adriana Zabala
Singing is a transformative act of mind, body, and soul, the thorough knowledge and cultivation of which animates my life as a teacher and as an artist. My teaching and mentoring centers on solid, traditional technique that facilitates far-ranging expressive aspirations, encourages personal agency and understanding, and nurtures the ability to engage and connect with the world—in opera, song, and beyond. I approach the vocal arts with great rigor and joy and passionately seek to help each singer discover a meaningful and professional path in our timely and timeless art.
Adriana Zabala
Mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala enjoys a dynamic career performing and recording new and traditional repertoire, from opera and concert works to oratorios and German, French, American, and Spanish songs. She has appeared with such renowned ensembles as the Minnesota Opera, San Diego Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Saratoga, Handel and Haydn Society, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and at National Sawdust and the New York Festival of Song.
An enthusiastic champion of new music, Zabala performed in the premiere of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s The Manchurian Candidate with the Minnesota Opera and in the U.S. premiere of Philip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians with the Austin Lyric Opera. She has created several roles, including Sister James in Douglas Cuomo and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, whose world-premiere production by the Minnesota Opera was broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances.
Zabala is associate professor adjunct of voice at the Yale School of Music. She served previously as associate professor of voice at the University of Minnesota, where she taught graduate and undergraduate students, served as chair of the voice division at the School of Music, and created and led the annual global seminar Vive les Arts! in Paris. Zabala has given master classes at the San Diego Opera’s Young Artist Training Program, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center.
Zabala earned a bachelor of music degree from Louisiana State University and a master of music degree in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She studied Lieder as a Fulbright Scholar at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst "Mozarteum" in Salzburg, Austria and is an alumna of the apprentice programs at the Minnesota Opera, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera Company.
