Spanish Soprano Serena Sáenz has been lauded by the press for her “musicality, good taste in
ornamentation and luminous high notes with a good arsenal of bel canto resources” (Scherzo). She
is recipient of three prizes of the Operalia-2022 Competition in Riga, namely of the Second Prize
of Plácido Domingo’s world opera competition, the Pepita Embil Prize of Zarzuela, and the Birgit
Nilsson Prize.
In spite of her youth, Serena Sáenz is already a frequent guest at some of the most renowned opera
houses in the world: she opened the 2022/23 season of the Gran Theatre del Liceu as Norina in a
new production of Don Pasquale. After that Sáenz jumped in at Vienna State Opera’s production
of Ariadne of Naxos conducted by Thomas Guggeis and celebrated her house debut as Zerbinetta.
She also made her role debut as Lisa in a new production of La Sonnambula at the Teatro Real in
Madrid. The soprano can also be heard as Frasquita in Carmen at the Staatsoper Berlin. In addition,
numerous concert appearances are planned: The soprano sings Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8
(together with the Orquesta de RTVE) in Madrid, Mozart’s Requiem in Barcelona as well as Die
Entführung aus dem Serail in Granada. She also performs at the Easter edition of the Castell de
Peralada Festival in Spain.
Highlights of past seasons include performances as Nannetta in Falstaff, Zerbinetta in Ariadne
auf Naxos, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and as Clorinda
in La Cenerentola. In 2021 the young artist made a phenomenal debut in the title role iof Lucia di
Lammermoor at the Gran Theatre del Liceu, where she returned later as Prilepa in The Queen of
Spades and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Gustavo Dudamel.
In 2021 Serena Sáenz won the 1rst prize and the Audience Prize at the Montserrat Caballé
International Singing Competition and was honoured with multiple prizes at both the Paris Opera
Competition and the Francisco Viñas Competition Barcelona.
In 2019, as a member of the Internationales Opernstudio Staatsoper Berlin, Serena appeared as
Pamina in the premiere Yuval Sharon’s production of Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Alondra de
la Parra. Subsequent appearances for the house included further performances of Pamina, and
notable role debuts: Frasquita in Carmen and Waldvogel in Siegfried, both conducted by Daniel
Barenboim.
Concert highlights include her recital debut and Carmina Burana (under the baton of Simon
Halsey and Esteve Nabona) at the Palau de la Música Catalana; a Scarlatti programme with
Accademia Bizantina at the Pierre Boulez-Saal; Mozart Mass in c Minor with Orquesta Sinfónica
Centre Stage Artist Management GmbH ; Stralauer Allee 1 ; D-10245 Berlin
Geschäftsführung / Board: Judith Neuhoff
y Coro de RTVE conducted by Antonio Méndez and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Orquesta
Sinfonica de Euskadi and Semyon Bychkov. In May 2022, she took over the soprano part in John
Rutter’s composition of the biblical cantabile Magnificat with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.
The concert under the baton of Ivan Repušić was recorded for radio broadcast.
Serena Sáenz was born in 1994 in Barcelona. She made her professional debut at the age of 13 in
the children’s opera Brundibár by Hans Krása at the Gran Theatre del Liceu. Sáenz studied at the
Liceu Conservatoire in Barcelona with Prof. Dolores Aldea and at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns
Eisler in Berlin with Prof. Anna Samuil. She participated in masterclasses with Mariella Devia,
Niel Shicoff, Wolfram Rieger, Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Berganza, Dolora Zajick, and Riccardo
Frizza. Alongside her musical studies, Serena trained in ballet and modern dance and has
professional training as a fitness coach.
