Michelle Mariposa is a Filipino-Chinese mezzo-soprano whose mission as an artist is to communicate truth and beauty through music, poetry, and rhetoric. She is a winner of the 2023 Sullivan Award from the Sullivan Foundation. An enthusiast for new and underperformed music, Michelle is currently a young artist with the Chicago Opera Theater and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

This fall, Michelle will cover Podtochina and the Old Countess in Shostakovich’s The Nose with Chicago Opera Theater. Earlier in the 2023-2024 season, Michelle made her debut with Haymarket Opera as part of the ensemble in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina. Michelle was recently an Apprentice Artist for Santa Fe Opera’s 2023 season, where she covered Pastore 3 in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Recent roles include Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, the title role in Menotti's The Medium, Third Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and the Medium in the Midwest premiere of Chris Cerrone’s In a Grove, all with Northwestern Opera Theater. As a resident artist of Teatro Nuovo in 2022, Mariposa covered Calbo in Rossini’s rarely performed Maometto Secondo.

In concert, Michelle was recently one of the eight soloists in Berio’s Sinfonia with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, and the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Michelle joined the University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra (UPSO) in their Kaohsiung, Taiwan concert tour, where she was the featured soloist. Other concert performances include Bernstein’s Mass (Street Singer) with the Orchestra of Music Makers, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with UPSO, and Bach's Magnificat in the 44th International Bamboo Organ Festival.

In recital, Michelle has performed works such as Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten. Additionally, Mariposa enjoys programming music from her native Philippines, and has performed recitals of Filipino chamber music as a young artist of the FilAm Music Foundation NFP, under pianist Victor Asuncion. Earlier in 2023, Michelle performed as a guest artist for a WFMT 98.7 feature on Filipino music. Mariposa has concertized in the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, Austria, South Korea, and in her native Philippines.

Mariposa made her Carnegie Hall debut as an award winning finalist in the 2023 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition of the Oratorio Society of New York. She was also named honorable mention in the Shreveport Opera 2023 Singer of the Year Competition. In 2022, she won the Jay Sorci Memorial IAET Vocal Scholarship from Casa Italia and the Farwell Award from the Musicians Club of Women. Other achievements include 2nd place in the 2021 Sugree Charoensook International Music Competition, and 1st place and Best Interpretation of the Contest Piece in the 2019 National Music Competition for Young Artists.

A new music enthusiast, Mariposa has had the pleasure of premiering several works by up and coming Filipino composers such as Jose Buencamino, Jai Saldajeño, and Yanni Robiennol.

Mariposa holds degrees in Psychology and Music from the University of the Philippines, both summa cum laude. She obtained her Master’s degree in Voice and Opera Performance at Northwestern University. Mariposa’s teachers include Mark Crayton, Steve Smith, Christopher Arceo, Raymond Leslie Diaz, and Katherine Molina.