Amelia Sierra

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Amelia Sierra is a Mexican singer known for both soprano and mezzo-soprano roles. She was born in Mexico City and studied at the Escuela Superior de Música of INBA. She trained with many noted teachers and continued learning in workshops in New York City.

Early in her career she won several awards: Best Performance at FONCA-OCJM in 1995, third place in the Carlo Morelli National Singing Contest and first place at the OSUG competition in 1996, and recognition from the National Coordination of Music and Opera in 1996. She received grants from the Education for Art Program at the University of Guanajuato and SIVAM.

Sierra made her solo debut in 1996 with the Carlos Chávez Symphony Orchestra. She debuted with the Bellas Artes Opera in 2002 as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, and she later performed in Il prigioniero (2004) and as Elvira in the world premiere of Ambrosio by José Antonio Guzmán. In 2007 she sang Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites, the first full performance in Mexico in fifty years.

Her repertoire includes many major roles: Un ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, Simon Boccanegra, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Iphigénie en Tauride, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, I pagliacci, Suor Angelica, La Bohème, Tosca, and Turandot. She has also performed Baroque works and traditional Mexican and Spanish music, often with pianist Carlos Pecero, at festivals and on radio programs. She has appeared at the Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato and Festival Ortiz Tirado in Sonora, as well as events in Cartago, Costa Rica, and at the University of Toronto, among others. She has sung with several Mexican orchestras, including the Orquesta de Cámara de la Universidad Michoacana and OFUNAM.

Since 1997 Sierra has held teaching posts, first at the Singing Academy of the Escuela Superior de Música and now at the Celaya Music Conservatory. She helped promote a Tampico opera company, OPTA. Since 1998 she has received multiple grants from the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes to support study and performances. Her recent work included training as a mezzo-soprano and making her mezzo debut in Il Trovatore in Monterrey in 2011.