C
elebrated for her “blend of vocal sparkle and theatrical 
charisma” by the San Francisco Chronicle, American 
soprano Elisa Sunshine is a recent graduate of San Francisco 
Opera’s Adler Fellowship. In the 2025-2026 season, she 
returned to San Francisco Opera in a double appearance as 
the Page and Gilda cover in Rigoletto and a Flower Maiden 
and Squire in Parsifal, both conducted by Music Director Eun 
Sun Kim, as well as her Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, and 
San Diego Opera debuts as Lucy in Fellow Travelers. She also 
debuted with The Santa Fe Symphony for Handel’s Messiah and 
looks excitedly ahead to future collaborations with The Santa 
Fe Opera, the Sag Harbor Song Festival, and the Santa Rosa 
Symphony. 
In the 2024-2025 season, Sunshine returned to the Lyric Opera 
of Chicago to cover Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Gilda 
in Rigoletto and made debuts with The Atlanta Opera as Iris in 
Semele and Boston Symphony Orchestra as Juliette in Die tote Stadt, garnering critical acclaim for 
Iris as “the most delightful singer of the evening” for her “superb technique and Mozartean timbre. 
She will excel in leading roles” (OperaWire). Sunshine joined The Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice 
Artist in 2024, marking her company debut as Annina in a new production of La Traviata and 
covering Sheila in the world premiere of The Righteous. 
In previous seasons, Sunshine covered Marie in Laurent Pelly’s sparkling production of La fille du 
régiment with Lyric Opera of Chicago and won third prize in The Dallas Opera’s 2024 National Vocal 
Competition. San Francisco Opera’s centennial season celebration saw Sunshine return as part 
of Richard Strauss’s masterpiece Die Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. In 
concert, Sunshine has made debuts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah, 
led by Music Director Richard Egarr, and with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Esa-
Pekka Salonen for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
BIOGRAPHY   Elisa Sunshine, soprano    	  	
	
Photo by Shervin Lainez
srsymphony.org	
2026-2027 Season   19

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