Gabriella Reyes

It took nearly two and a half hours for Gabriella Reyes to disappear. Her hair vanished beneath a bald cap, prosthetics transformed her face, and intricate makeup turned the Nicaraguan-American soprano into a jeweled skeleton. “When I look in the mirror, Gabriella goes into the background, and Catrina comes into the forefront,” Reyes told ¡HOLA! USA.

From May 14 through June 5, 2026, Reyes starred as La Catrina in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and staged by director and choreographer Deborah Colker. As the guardian of the threshold between the living and the dead, her Catrina could be imposing, funny, and unexpectedly tender. Reyes described her to ¡HOLA! USA as “a mother or a tía.”

© Dario Acosta

That connection to Latin American storytelling runs deeper than any single role. Reyes grew up in Meriden, Connecticut, the daughter of Nicaraguan refugees, with revolutionary Latin American music in the house and a grandmother who sang along to Carmen. In previous interviews, she has said, “My Nicaraguan-American roots are an essential part of how I interpret, listen and communicate as an artist.” 

Reaching opera’s biggest stages is not easy, and it requires persistence. Reyes attended Boston Conservatory on a full scholarship while working as a restaurant server, often putting in 40-hour weeks. After further training at Boston University’s Opera Institute, she entered the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her company debut in 2018 as the offstage Priestess in Aida.

Her place in the Opera world continued to grow. In 2023, she sang Rosalba in the company premiere of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, only the third Spanish-language opera in Met history. Its cast recording earned a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best Opera Recording. That year also brought another significant recognition: Reyes was named a Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, an honor celebrating outstanding classical artists of color and their leadership in the field.

© Gabriella Reyes

Then came La Catrina. Eight years after making her Met debut as a voice heard from offstage, Reyes returned in 2026 as one of the unforgettable visual presences of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. It was a fitting measure of how much space she has claimed in an art form where her path was anything but easy.

Her next major role will take her to the Chicago Opera House, where she is scheduled to sing the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah from April 11th through 23rd, 2027. The young Latina who once entered the Met unseen is no longer waiting in the wings. She is stepping into roles built around her voice