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The American-Chinese mezzo-soprano, Sun-Ly Pierce, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (August 2012-April 2016) and is an alumni of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory of Music (April 2019) where she studied under the tutelage of Dawn Upshaw, Kayo Iwama, and Erika Switzer. Ms. Pierce completed her training as a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in May 2022. As winners of the 2019 Marilyn Horne Song Competition, Pierce and pianist Chien-Lin Lu premiered the song cycle, Wise Moon, written by three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon for the duo in a recital during the spring of 2022. Competing in the 2021 Dallas Opera National Vocal Competition, she tied for 3rd place (October 2021). In 2020, she was the 1st place winner of the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and was selected as one of the Keston MAX Fellows, who were slated to perform with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle before the pandemic forced its cancellation. In 2019, she was a semi-finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition and a Vocal Fellow at Music Academy of the West. She was selected as an Encouragement Winner of the New England Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2021.
Sun-Ly Pierce is quickly distinguishing herself as an exciting communicator and artist in the opera world. Previous season highlights include a debut at National Sawdust in two New York premieres of works by composers Annika Socolofsky and Emily Cooley; performing in Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella conducted by Thomas Adès; taking on the role of Olivia in the west coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain directed by James Darrah; singing Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with the Broad Street Orchestra; debuting as Soprano II in J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in D major BWV 243 as a part of Counterpoint Concerts in Tennessee; performing as mezzo-soprano soloist in George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Mohawk Valley Choral Society and Orchestra and J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 70 Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! in Eastman School of Music: Bach Cantata Series (September 2015); singing the opera roles of Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Dorinda in Acis and Galatea, Nada in Sokolović’s Svadba, Suor Pazienza in Giordano's Mese Mariano, and La Suor Infermiera in Suor Angelica.
In the 2020-2021 season at Houston Grand Opera, Sun-Ly Pierce sang the title role in a digital presentation of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel by director Lileana Blain-Cruz with original animated settings by award-winning visual artist Hannah Wasileski (May 2021). She also appeared as Liesl in the company's live sing-a-long event, My Favorite Things: Songs from The Sound of Music, which took place at the TDECU Stadium at the University of Houston. Scheduled appearances included Kätchen in Werther as well as covering Angelina and singing Tisbe in La Cenerentola before being canceled due to the pandemic. Recent scene productions with the Houston Grand Opera Studio include excerpts of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Georges Bizet's Carmen.
In the 2021-2022 season, Sun-Ly Pierce debuted four new roles on stage at Houston Grand Opera: Stéphano in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette directed by Tomer Zvulun (April-May 2022); Sister Mathilde and covered Blanche de la Force in Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by music director Patrick Summers (January 2022); Second Lady in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in the Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade production under the baton of Jane Glover (February 2022); and Mercédès in G. Bizet Carmen led by Lidiya Yankovskaya (October 2021). Additional appearances included reviving her portrayal of W.A. Mozart's Second Lady for Des Moines Metro Opera (March 2022); joining the Aspen Music Festival in a role debut as Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni reuniting with Dame Jane Glover as conductor (August 2022) and mezzo-soprano soloist in a concerts of Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream led by Nicholas McGegan and Druckman's Dark Upon the Harp; and made her San Francisco Opera debut (June 2022) as Bao Chai in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber with conductor Darrell Ang (June 2022).
During the 2022-2023 season, Sun-Ly Pierce will return to Houston Grand Opera to sing the role of Jack and cover Thirza in Dame Ethel (Mary) Smyth's epic 1906 opera The Wreckers (November 2022). She will also make role and house debuts with Calgary Opera as Laurene Powell in (R)evolution of Steve Jobs led by Michael Christie (February 2023), Opera Philadelphia as Emilia in Rossini’s Otello alongside tenor Lawrence Brownlee and conducted by Corrado Rovaris (September 2022), and Detroit Opera as Arsamene in Xerxes under the baton of Dame Jane Glover (March 2023). In concert, she will perform Szymanowski’s Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin with The Orchestra Now at the Fisher Center and Carnegie Hall with Leon Botstein on the podium (April-May 2023) as well as a pair of recitals for Lyric Fest in Philadelphia. Additionally, she will debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra led by Itzhak Perlman as the mezzo-soprano soloist in the W.A. Mozart Requiem (April 2023). |
