Sophia Baete

Mezzo-Soprano | Louisville, Kentucky | Age 23 | First Year 

Sophia Baete is a mezzo-soprano from Louisville, Kentucky and a Grand Finals Winner of the 2026 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. During her first year in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Shepherdess in the Company’s new production of Janáček’s Jenůfa before covering the Second Sentry in Parsifal. Recent operatic engagements include Cio-Cio-San’s Aunt and Suzuki (cover) in Madama Butterfly and Dagmar (cover) in Lili Elbe with the Santa Fe Opera, Meg Page in Falstaff with Juilliard Opera, and Sally in Die Fledermaus with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. An avid recitalist and concert artist, she made her Alice Tully Hall debt in 2025 as Un Pâtre in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, performed in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s The Earth at Carnegie Hall, and performed Berio’s Folk Songs under the baton of Barbara Hannigan as part of the Juilliard Fall Festival. She has participated in Renée Fleming’s SongStudio and the New York Festival of Song and was named the winner of the 2026 Juilliard Honors Recital. Notable honors and awards include the Grand Prize and the Lissner Charitable Fund Award in the 2025 Opera Index Vocal Competition, the Renata Scotto Prize in the 2025 Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition, and a 2026 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition grant. She is an alumna of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program, the Ravinia Steans Institute, the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Denyce Graves Foundation’s Shared Voices Program, and Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. She holds degrees in voice from the Juilliard School, where she was a Jerome L. Greene Fellow. 

Sophia Baete's participation in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is sponsored by the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.