ABOUT MERYL
HER INTERPRETATION WAS A REVELATION
"[Dominguez] plays the titular character of Maria Stuarda, and her interpretation was a revelation: she is no noble victim crushed underfoot by an unjust and jealous rival. Dominguez styles her Maria as more of a proud, shrewd and manipulative player. Employing a whole arsenal of vocal colours and shadings, Dominguez‘s Maria plays upon the heartstrings of all the different characters she is paired with onstage. With Anna, her attendant (sweetly sung by soprano Kenix Tsang), she is playful and almost girlish, tossing out melismas with ease. With Talbot, she is every inch a noble Catholic, calling for justice from the heavens with a velvet timbre. Before a grieving crowd, she is all authority and forgiveness, floating pianissimi, a martyr unto death. Above all, with her suitor Leicester, Dominguez combines lightness of tone with a smoothly liquid line, demonstrating grace and fragility. With him, she is no queen, but an innocent princess requiring rescue."
INTERLUDE HK 2022
BIOGRAPHY
Cuban-American soprano Meryl Dominguez has been praised for her “intensity and warm tone” (Bachtrack). In the midst of her final year as a Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio Artist, she is an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and has been celebrated for her “gorgeous, crystalline highs and a powerful mid-range.” Recent seasons have seen Dominguez in performance with Houston Grand Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival, among others.
Dominguez’s repertoire spans diverse roles, including Violetta (La traviata), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Donizetti’s titular Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2022, she made her return to the international stage in the title role of Maria Stuarda with Musica Viva Hong Kong, where she earned praise for her “Sutherland-like purity in the upper and middle registers, coupled with depth in the lower range” (South China Morning Post).
Dominguez has earned recognition in notable competitions, including as a Finalist in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition and a Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She is the 1st Prize winner of the Vero Beach Opera Competition, a Sullivan Foundation Grantee, and a prize winner with both the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Giargiari Competition.
Passionate and invested in the realm of art song and new music, Dominguez has been involved in the creation and premieres of multiple new operas and recital programs. She was slated to sing Lucy Harper in Santa Fe Opera’s workshop of Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries (canceled due to COVID-19) and later premiered the role of Skyspace Woman in Another City (Beck/Fleischmann) with Houston Grand Opera. Most recently, she covered Callie van Lew in the world premiere of Intelligence (Heggie/Scheer/Zollar) also with Houston Grand Opera.
Dominguez’s recital work has celebrated her versatility, collaborating with LyricFest on the premiere of John Musto's Be Music, Night, Lili Boulanger's clairières dans le ciel, Wolf's Spanischesliederbuch, and several other works. She is in the process of developing a recital combining her passion for fiber arts, the feminist concept of ‘women’s work’, and the narrative trope of madness that pervades the western musical canon.
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