Saane Halaholo brought power and gravitas to the role of Madame Lidoine...
Also memorable was her heartbreaking arioso in Act 3, sung to her charges in prison with palpable emotion."
– Janelle Gelfand (Cincinnati Business Courier)
Tongan-American and California native Saane Aziza Halaholo is already gaining recognition as a promising, young lyric soprano. Her 2023-2024 season began with covering Cio-Cio San in Cincinnati Opera’s new co-production of Madame Butterfly. She then joined Opera Colorado as an Artist-in-Residence to cover Donna Anna in Don Giovanni as well as to perform Giannetta and Clorinda in touring productions of The Elixir of Love and Cinderella. She looks forward to participating in the Glimmerglass Festival as a Young Artist to cover Giunone in La Calisto and perform Edith in Pirates of Penzance. Most recently, she was awarded fourth place in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild's 2024 Competition for Colorado Singers. Ms. Halaholo looks forward to debuting the role of Maya in Robert Paterson's one-act opera The Companion in May of 2024.
Ms. Halaholo’s repertoire also includes New Prioress in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Susannah in Floyd’s Susannah, Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Léontine in Bologne’s L’Amant Anonyme, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Nina in Massenet’s Chérubin. A fierce proponent of contemporary music, Ms. Halaholo workshopped the role of Marilyn in Santa Fe Opera's commission of The Righteous by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith with Cincinnati Opera’s Opera Fusion: New Works. She also performed the world premieres of two art songs in Cincinnati Song Initiative's 2023 virtual concert Let It Be New. Equally comfortable singing oratorio, she has appeared as the soloist in Fauré's Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
A winner of the 2022 Tuesday Musical Association Voice competition and an Encouragement Award recipient in the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Halaholo's training includes prestigious institutions such as Wolf Trap Opera, where she was a three-time Studio Artist, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where she earned her Artist Diploma and Master of Music degrees, and the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach, where she earned her Bachelor of Music.
Ms. Halaholo’s repertoire also includes New Prioress in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Susannah in Floyd’s Susannah, Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Léontine in Bologne’s L’Amant Anonyme, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Nina in Massenet’s Chérubin. A fierce proponent of contemporary music, Ms. Halaholo workshopped the role of Marilyn in Santa Fe Opera's commission of The Righteous by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith with Cincinnati Opera’s Opera Fusion: New Works. She also performed the world premieres of two art songs in Cincinnati Song Initiative's 2023 virtual concert Let It Be New. Equally comfortable singing oratorio, she has appeared as the soloist in Fauré's Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
A winner of the 2022 Tuesday Musical Association Voice competition and an Encouragement Award recipient in the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Halaholo's training includes prestigious institutions such as Wolf Trap Opera, where she was a three-time Studio Artist, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where she earned her Artist Diploma and Master of Music degrees, and the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach, where she earned her Bachelor of Music.