Biography

A committed vocal performer with a unique tone, Brenda Iglesias excels in concert, operatic, and recital repertoire. A recent graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she has been a soloist and an invited artist with notable companies and orchestras around the United States and Mexico like the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Fusion: New Works, Orquesta Sinfónica Carlos Chávez, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM and Orquesta Sinfónica de la UAEH. Her performances have resonated in prominent venues such as the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Teatro Degollado, Prague’s Liechtenstein Palace and Estates Theater, and Cincinnati Music Hall. She has collaborated with several distinguished conductors, including Louis Langrée, James Burton, José Luis Castillo, and Eduardo García Barrios.

Iglesias' wide-ranging repertoire encompasses the principal Contralto and Mezzo-Soprano parts of the oratorio and concert repertoire, from the Baroque through the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as 20th-century music. Concert performance highlights include the solos in Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, de Falla's El Amor Brujo, Mozart's Requiem, Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus, and Bach’s St. John Passion. Operatic credits include Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, Drittte dame in Die Zauberflöte, Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, and Maman, La bergère and La chouette in L'enfant et les sortilèges. An enthusiast of new music, she was part of the world premiere recording of Blind Injustice and workshoped the role of Dr. Muriel Elsie Landeau in Tobias Picker’s Awakenings as part of the program “Opera Fusion: New Works" with Cincinnati Opera.

A prize-winner of the renowned “Carlo Morelli” National Singing Competition at the Opera of Bellas Artes in Mexico and the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition in Kentucky, Iglesias has also earned recognition through numerous scholarships and grants. Noteworthy among these are Mexico’s prestigious FONCA (National Endowment for the Arts, 2017-19), SNFM (National System of Musical Development, 2014-17), Pro-Ópera A.C (2017), and the Corbett Full Merit Scholarship, supporting both her master’s and doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati–CCM. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo in her hometown in Mexico and was an exchange student at the School of Music of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for one year.

A fierce advocate of Latin American art song, Iglesias consistently incorporates underrepresented works in her recitals, emphasizing compositions by Mexican and Argentinean composers. Through collaboration with the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City, she was able to recover nineteenth-century repertoire tailored for medium and low voices for her doctoral lecture-recital. In her research, she focused on unveiling the overlooked origins of Mexican art song, presenting Mexican works not only in Spanish, but also in Italian, French, and German. In March 2024, she was invited to present her lecture-recital at the 50th Society of American Music Conference in Detroit.

Iglesias career has been shaped by the influence of many esteemed soloists, educators, and musicians, including Thomas Baresel, Cynthia Lawrence, Kathleen Kelly, Kenneth Griffiths, Carlos Aransay, and Horacio Franco.

When Brenda isn't pouring her heart into singing, she's experimenting with plant-based recipes, picking up new languages, hitting the gym, or enjoying time with her Argentine husband as they playfully navigate the differences in accent, pronunciation, and the colorful expressions of each other's Spanish.