Karen Esquivel, contralto
Contralto Karen Esquivel was born in the U.S.A., of a Costa Rican mother and father of Mexican descent. She obtained her BME and Master’s degree in Voice / Opera Theater at the University of Nebraska, a MM in Opera Production from Florida State University and her Doctorate in Voice Performance from the same institution. Dr. Esquivel has participated in the Apprenticeship Programs of the Des Moines Metro Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. Her experience covers performances in Music Theater to Opera to Oratorio. Dr. Esquivel served as Director of the Compañía Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica and performed as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia in such works as the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevksy and Handel’s Messiah. She taught at the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Universidad Nacional, and since 1997 she has formed a duo with her husband, Costa Rican pianist/coach Gustavo Castro, with whom she has performed numerous recitals in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Dr. Esquivel has performed the roles of Dame Quickly in Falstaff, Orphée in Orphée et Euridice, Katisha in The Mikado, Baba in The Medium, Giulio Cesare in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, as well as Servilla in the baroque intermezzo Il marito giocatore e la moglie bacchettona. She also, along with her husband, co-founded a project for the formation of young opera singers known as Opera Nova Costa Rica, providing lessons and performance opportunities through the presentation of recitals, scene programs and opera in Costa Rica, with the participation of young American and Costa Rican singers.
She has served as Adjunct Faculty at Albany State University and Valdosta State University and is currently teaching Voice and Opera Workshop at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.
Dr. Esquivel has performed the roles of Dame Quickly in Falstaff, Orphée in Orphée et Euridice, Katisha in The Mikado, Baba in The Medium, Giulio Cesare in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, as well as Servilla in the baroque intermezzo Il marito giocatore e la moglie bacchettona. She also, along with her husband, co-founded a project for the formation of young opera singers known as Opera Nova Costa Rica, providing lessons and performance opportunities through the presentation of recitals, scene programs and opera in Costa Rica, with the participation of young American and Costa Rican singers.
She has served as Adjunct Faculty at Albany State University and Valdosta State University and is currently teaching Voice and Opera Workshop at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.
