Hillary Esqueda

• MM Roosevelt University CCPA 2014-16,
• BM New York University Steinhardt 2006-10
• OperaMaya Young Artist 2022
• OperaWorks Advanced Artist Program 2016
• Underworld Productions Resident Artist 2010
• Pacific Encore Performances Young Artist 2010-11
• Hubbard Hall Select Conservatory 2009, 2010
• Semi-Finalist CS Vocal Competition YA/EA 2025
• First Place Da Capo International Music Competition 2022
• Contract Winner Piccola Opera’s Opera Idol Competition 2021
• Second Place American Prize 2019-20
• Orpheus Vocal Competition Semi-Finalist 2019
• Mu Phi Epsilon Summer Scholarship Recipient 2016

Known for her floating high notes and rich middle range, Hillary Esqueda is a versatile lyric soprano praised as a “powerful” performer. Hillary’s passion for modern and 21st-century opera led her to create three roles for composer Francis Lynch in the world premiers of Voices at Domrémy (Yvonne), For Those in Peril (Gwendolyn) and Joseph’s Gift (Mary). Aaron Hunt of Chicago Theatre Review described her performance of Mary as "appropriately serene...with a flowing and pitch-perfect voice that sets the bar high for any soprano undertaking this role in the future." Hillary also appeared in the Midwest premiers of With Blood, With Ink as legendary poet, scholar and nun Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and Darkling (Soprano Anna) by Stefan Weisman and Anna Rabinowitz. From traditional repertoire she has also sung the roles of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Mimi (La Bohème), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief), Drusilla (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Marie (La Fille du Régiment), Sophie (Werther), Marzelline (Fidelio), First Lady (Magic Flute), and Frasquita (Carmen).

Esqueda was a Young Artist and Apprentice with Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, Pacific Encore Performances, and Underworld Productions. In summer 2016, she attended OperaWorks’ Advanced Artist Program, where she explored her artistry in four weeks of intensive work culminating in an improvisational opera performance. In summer 2022, she traveled to Cancun, Mexico, to perform around the Yucatan Peninsula with OperaMaya as a Young Artist during their summer festival. In 2023 she joined Mozart in the Knobs in their inaugural festival and made her role debut as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). In 2024 Hillary made her company debut in concerts with Opera Nova and Wilmington Concert Opera, and as Tatyana in Opera Aeterna's production of Eugene Onegin. Most recently she understudied the role of Micaëla (Carmen) with Chicago Opera Productions.

Hillary recently was a finalist at the NH Opera Idol competition and took first place in The Da Capo International Vocal Competition. She was a prizewinner in the 2022 Vienna New Year’s Competition and was runner-up in The American Prize (2020). She received her bachelor’s degree in music from NYU’s Steinhardt School and her master’s from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Hillary currently lives in Chicago and studies with countertenor Mark Crayton.