Celebrated for her “blend of vocal sparkle and theatrical charisma” by the San Francisco Chronicle, American soprano Elisa Sunshine is a recent graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship who brings the immediacy of the human experience to life through vocal acrobatics and theatrical dynamism. Known for her versatility as an actor and musician, the 2025-2026 season brings a return to San Francisco Opera in a double appearance as the Page and Gilda cover in Rigoletto and a Flower Maiden and Squire in Wagner’s epic Parsifal, both conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim, as well as her Seattle Opera debut as Lucy in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers. She also makes her debut with The Santa Fe Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, and looks excitedly ahead to future collaborations with The Santa Fe Opera.

​

 

In the 2024-2025 season, Ms. Sunshine returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Gilda in Rigoletto, and made debuts with The Atlanta Opera as Iris in Semele and Boston Symphony Orchestra as Juliette in Die tote Stadt, garnering critical acclaim for Iris as “the most delightful singer of the evening” for her “superb technique and Mozartean timbre. She will excel in leading roles” (OperaWire). Ms. Sunshine joined The Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist in 2024, marking her company debut as Annina in Louisa Muller's new production of La Traviata and covering Sheila in the world premiere of Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith's The Righteous.

​

 

In previous seasons, Ms. Sunshine covered Marie in Laurent Pelly's sparkling production of La fille du régiment with Lyric Opera of Chicago, won third prize in The Dallas Opera’s 2024 National Vocal Competition, and represented the United States as a participant in the 2023 Queen Sonja Singing Competition in Norway. San Francisco Opera’s centennial season celebration saw Ms. Sunshine return as part of Richard Strauss’s masterpiece Die Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. In concert, Ms. Sunshine has made debuts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for Handel's Messiah, led by Music Director Richard Egarr, and with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen for Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

​

 

During her time as an Adler Fellow, Ms. Sunshine made her San Francisco Opera debut as the Shepherd boy in Tosca, sang Annina in a brand new Shawna Lucey production of La Traviata, and sang Soeur Anne de la Croix and covered Constance in Olivier Py’s award-winning production of Dialogues des Carmèlites. Additionally, Ms. Sunshine covered Despina in Così fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and prepared assignments lost to the pandemic, including covering the title role in Handel’s Partenope, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Musetta in La bohème.

​

 

An avid lover of new works, Ms. Sunshine created the role of Selena in Merola Opera Program's world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s If I Were You, where her "steady, vibrant soprano made the most of her every moment. Ms. Sunshine also mined every bit of drama out of Selena's revelatory final encounter with Diana" (Opera Today). With the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City, she sang the role of Elizabeth Christine in Scott Wheeler’s workshop of The Sorrows of Frederick. In Boston, Ms. Sunshine created the role of Madame White Snake in a workshop of Scott Wheeler’s Naga at New England Conservatory, and later covered the role during its world premiere at the Cutler Majestic Theater in collaboration with ArtsEmerson and Beth Morrison Projects.