Ана Мария Мартинес: Путь пуэрториканской оперной дивы

Puerto Rican soprano

Ana María Martínez (born 1971) is a Puerto Rican soprano.

Martínez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico; she is the daughter of Puerto Rican opera singer Evangelína Colón and Cuban psychoanalyst Ángel Martínez. Martínez' grandparents originated in Spain and France, and migrated to the Caribbean islands. Martínez grew up with a strict Catholic upbringing. She briefly attended the Boston Conservatory as a musical theater major, but dropped out and later received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the Juilliard School.

After winning first prize in the 1994 Eleanor McCollum Competition, Martínez joined the Houston Grand Opera's studio in the 1994/95 season, during which she performed Micaëla in Carmen and the title role in Sāvitri. In November 2005 Martínez debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in Carmen as Micaëla. In 2006 she was featured in Salzburg Festival's production of Così fan tutte as Fiordiligi. In summer 2009, she performed the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In the 21 August performance she fell into the orchestra pit immediately before the end of Act 1 after her feet became entangled in part of the scenic feature. She was then hospitalized as a precaution and for the rest of the performance her role was taken over by Natasha Jouhl, who performed the role of First Nymph in the run. In February 2016 she was Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera. She returned to Così fan tutte as Fiordiligi at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in February 2018. In April, she took up the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas at Florida Grand Opera. In July she performed in Falstaff at the Royal Opera, London as Alice Ford. She portrayed Élisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos opening on 22 September at the Los Angeles Opera. In January 2019 she brought performances of Florencia to Houston Grand Opera. In February she was appointed Houston Grand Opera's first ever artistic advisor. In May she portrayed Soleá in El gato montés at Los Angeles Opera. In 2020, she was announced to join Shepherd School of Music as a professor in the Department of Voice effective as from 1 July 2021.

On 11 March 2016, Martínez sang Bach/Gounod's "Ave Maria" and "Pie Jesu" from Fauré's Requiem during the funeral services of Nancy Reagan. She provided the singing voice for Monica Bellucci's character, Alessandra 'La Fiamma', in the third season of Mozart in the Jungle.

Martínez met tenor Chad Shelton in 2000; they married and had one son. They divorced about seven years later.

Martínez has won prizes including the Pepita Embil Award, Operalia, and first prize at the Eleanor McCollum Awards. She won a Latin Grammy in 2001 for Classical Album for Isaac Albéniz's Merlin with Carlos Álvarez, Plácido Domingo, Jane Henschel and conductor José de Eusebio with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. She is honored in the 15th annual Opera News Awards.