Melba Ramos
Melba Ramos is a Puerto Rican- born soprano active in the opera houses and concert halls of Europe. Since 1989 her operatic career has been primarily in Germany and in Austria where she has sung many leading roles at the Vienna Volksoper. In 2002, she created the role of Faustina in the posthumous premiere of Joachim Raff's "Benedetto Marcello". Ramos was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and studied voice at the Pablo Casals Conservatory of Music in San Juan. A previous District winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she made her official debut as Despina  in "Così fan tutte". From 1989 to 1992 was a member of the Opera Studio at Cologne Opera. She was then engaged by Wuppertal Opera and in 2002 by the Vienna Volksoper. Some of the roles she has portrayed at the Volksoper include, Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly" (2011), Giorgetta in "Il Tabarro" (2011), Leonora in "Il trovatore" (2013-2014), Liù in "Turandot" (2011), Rosalinde in "Die Fledermaus" (2011-2013), and title roles in "Tosca" (2010-2012) and "Turandot" (2014). In 2003 she portrayed Fiordiligi in "Così fan tutte" at the Salzburg Festival. In 2010 she portrayed Cio-Cio -San at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, and later returned there as Tosca in 2014. In 2011 and 2012 she performed the role of Leonora at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. In 2013 she portrayed Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera" at the Opernhaus Wuppertal. The following year she portrayed Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth" at the Saarländisches Staatstheater, and performed the role of Tigrane in "Radamisto" at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.