Class: 2022
Camille Robles, mezzo-soprano singer
Camille Robles Fernández is a rising Puerto Rican mezzo-soprano with a unique lyrical voice. She was recently selected to be part of the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center Young Artist Program, beginning in May 2025. In November 2024, she was the winner of the Puerto Rico District Award at the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition, being awarded the Culturarte Prize, the Classical Proposal Foundation Prize, and the Audience Award sponsored by the Puerto Rico Opera Theater.
In August 2024, she sang for the first time with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maximiano Valdés in the “Jóvenes Intérpretes” concert at the Pablo Casals Symphony Hall at the Santurce Fine Arts Center, which marked a long-awaited debut for Camille and a great dream come true.
Since September 2024, she has been participating in the Jan Miller Program of Pensacola Opera in Florida. During this season, Camille covered the role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and sang the role of the Dauphin in the world premiere of the opera Mato, the Bear Who Couldn't Fish. In Pensacola, she has participated in numerous concerts and in December 2024 she was the soloist in Bach's sung mass, Magnificat (BWV 243), with the Pensacola Choral Society under the baton of Peter Steenblik.
Camille earned a Master of Music degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas in May 2024. There she studied under the tutelage of Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez. While at Rice she had the opportunity to perform several roles, the most significant of which was Olga in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, performed in Russian under the baton of Stephanie Rhodes-Russel and stage direction by Paul Curran. At Rice she had the opportunity to sing other roles such as Mrs. Olsen in Street Scene, Nutrice in L'incoronazione di Poppea, and the Witch in Dido and Aeneas. She also covered the role of Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, performed the role of Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro in the scene concert, and sang the Carmen quintet in the Shepherd School of Music Christmas concert. While at Rice she participated in master classes with Joshua Winograde and Isabel Leonard.
Camille won First Place in the Camille Coloratura Awards competition, named in commemoration of coloratura soprano Camille Julig Herman, held in Towson, Maryland in October 2024. She received the Third Place Award in the Youth Division of the biennial Young Patronesses of the Opera competition in Miami, Florida in April 2024. She competed in the National Opera Association competition, held in Tempe, Arizona, where she was awarded the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship in January 2024.
In February 2024, she was a winner at the New Orleans District Laffont Competition. She moved on to the regional level of the competition, where she was awarded the Gulf Region Incentive Award. In the summer of 2023, she was invited to the Aspen Music Festival for the first time, covering Idamante in Idomeneo. In 2024, she was invited again, performing the role of the Sandman in Hänsel und Gretel and serving as a cover for the Witch. During her time in Aspen, she also had the opportunity to perform scenes from operas such as Carmen, Werther, La Favorita, Die Walküre, among others.
In the summer of 2022, Camille participated in the world premiere of the Puerto Rican opera ¿Y los pastels? A jíbara opera in two acts, composed by Johanny Navarro, under the baton of Yabetza Vivas and stage direction by Jeanne D'Arc Casas. The opera premiered at the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce, also marking Camille's debut as a soloist with the Puerto Rico Opera Theater.
In May 2022, she was selected to participate in Houston Grand Opera's Young Artists' Vocal Academy (YAVA) program. In 2022, she was awarded the José Rabelo Prize and was the winner of the María Zeno Annexy Award given by Pro Arte Musical in Puerto Rico upon graduating from high school. In 2021, she received an honorable mention in the Zarzuela, Voz, and ¡Olé! competition, and in 2020, she was the winner of the Daniel Santos Scholarship. In 2022, she received the Puerto Rico District Incentive Award, and in 2020, in her first time participating in the Laffont Competition and at only twenty years old, she was the winner of the Puerto Rico District.
Camille received her Bachelor of Music in Performance from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico in 2022. There, she performed the lead role of Madame Flora (Baba) in The Medium in 2021 and studied the role of Beppe from the opera L'amico Fritz in 2020 with the Conservatory's Opera Workshop.
In addition to her triumphs in opera, Camille is also a supporter of Puerto Rican art song and zarzuela. In 2020, she participated in the zarzuela concert “España en el alma” which was managed by the Fundación Propuesta Clásica and performed at the Teatro Tapia in San Juan. The first time she sang with an orchestra was in 2019 at the Pablo Casals Symphony Hall, singing the alto solo part in the Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by WA Mozart, with the Puerto Rico Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the University of Puerto Rico Carolina Campus.
Her passion for lyrical singing was born at her alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico High School, where she began singing in the school choir and was encouraged by her teachers to continue her studies in singing. She is the first singer and musician in her family.
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