Puerto Rican soprano, Kresley Figueroa, is a first-year Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera. Her roles this year with WNO include Partenope in Handel’s Partenope, Berginella in an English adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole, and The Unicorn in Tesori’s The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me.

Other recent role highlights include Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, performing alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role and under the baton of Patrick Summers with The Aspen Music Festival, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with OPERA San Antonio, conducted by Robert Tweten.

This season, Kresley made her debut with The Apollo Orchestra as a featured soloist, singing operetta and zarzuela selections with Javier Arrey, conducted by David Neely. Next season, she makes her debut with The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra as a featured soloist in their upcoming New Year’s Eve concert.

In April of 2024, Kresley won Third Prize in Florida Grand Opera’s National Voice Competition. In 2023, she was named a winner of the Duncan Williams Voice Competition for her performance in the Black and Latinx Song Presentation and was an Encouragement Award winner in the Los Angeles District auditions for The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Kresley’s other roles include Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Maria in West Side Story, and Fiona in Brigadoon.

She earned her BM at The Juilliard School and her MM at Rice University.