Puerto Rican mezzo-soprano Gabriela Linares, completed her undergraduate degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and masters degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is an Oregon District winner and North West Region award recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 Laffont Competition. As a Festival Artist of the Savannah Voice Festival (SVF), Linares will be performing the role of Ramona in the premier of Jodi Goble’s The Eleanors for the 2025 National Opera Association Conference. She previously joined SVF for their 2024 Summer Festival and performed the role of Ramona in The Eleanors’ workshop. In the spring of 2025, she is slated to perform in Opera Parallele’s production of Harvey Milk (Anne Kronenberg) after her debut as Rosie Casals in Opera Parallele and SFJAZZ’s co-production and premier of Balls by Laura Karpman. She was a 2023 and 2024 Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis where she performed in their production of Susannah as Mrs. Ott (2023) and Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei as the Scribe (2024), in addition to covering the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville (2024). In the fall of 2024 she returned for their Opera On The Go production of Pirates of Penzance as Ruth.
"Gabriela Linares has such a warm, supple mezzo that it not only fell easily on the ear, but also struck all the right impressions as a self-assured Scribe. "
-Opera Today
https://operatoday.com/2024/07/saint-louis-star-gazing-with-galileo/
"Racette also directed the showpiece “Carceleras” ("The Prisoners' Song") from the zarzuela “Las hijas del Zebedeo” (“The Daughters of Zebedeo) by Ruperto Chapí (1851–1909), Spanish master of the form (he wrote 15, plus a few operas). The title notwithstanding, this spicy and quintessentially Spanish number is all about Luisa (mezzo Gabriela Linares) enumerating the outstanding qualities of her lover Arturo. Linares delivered a scintillating performance, complete with some nice dance moves."
-KDHX
"Ruperto Chapi, who died in 1909, wrote many zarzuelas. An aria from one, beautifully sung by Gabriela Linares, is full of fierce love in a minor key, with threatening rhythms. It sounds very like what Bizet would have written for Carmen if he’d been a Spaniard rather than a Frenchman. Ole!
(And it sounds better in Spanish.)"
-Broadway World
https://www.broadwayworld.com/st-louis/article/Review-CENTER-STAGE-AT-OTSL-at-Opera-Theatre-Of-Saint-Louis-20240703