RAQUEL SUAREZ GROEN
ACTOR/SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Known for her “fresh and clear” sound and her versatile performances of complex characters, Raquel Suarez Groen is a force to be reckoned with on both Opera and theatre stages. Ms. Suarez Groen made her Broadway début in the iconic role of Carlotta Giudicelli in The Phantom of the Opera which she has since performed over 1000 performances in her 5 years with the company. Suarez Groen has been busy on camera this past few seasons as well, with several print campaigns running including Injectafer and SculpSure. She also appeared as a soloist for NY Couture Fashion Week.
Highlights of Ms. Suarez Groen’s operatic engagements include her début with Opera Carolina as Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Frasquita in Carmen with Opera San Antonio and Venture Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera on the James, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with DiCapo Opera, Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore with Opera in Williamsburg, the title role in Cendrillon with New York Lyric Opera and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Opera Lyra Ottawa. Additional roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, Musetta in La bohème, Ilia in Idomeneo with the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s Prelude to Performance festival and Laurie Moss in The Tender Land at Opera NUOVA. As an alumna of the Tyler Young Artist program at Opera on the James, she was featured as Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and in their production of Gianni Schicchi. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the Resident Artist Program at Syracuse Opera, where she performed the role of Marie in La fille du régiment, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, and the title role in Susannah. [read more...]
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...delights with her roulades and high notes..." – Play To See
The Phantom of the Opera – “Suarez Groen delights with her roulades and high notes. For all her evil grimaces, she is beautiful, like all the other female principals.”
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"...her hungry, ripe soprano boasts a bite..." – Broadway World
The Phantom of the Opera – “A spitfire in the often-misunderstood Carlotta, her hungry, ripe soprano boasts a bite that would pierce the firmest apple, bolstered by the grounding sexual dominance of her spoken mezzo.”
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"...exceptionally funny..." – NY Theater Guide
¡Figaro!(90210) – “Raquel Suarez-Groen as Roxanne captured the ‘actress’ archetype perfectly and was exceptionally funny in her characterization of the forgotten wife.”
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"…she sang sweetly and illuminated the stage with her radiant smile...” – Voix des Arts
Fidelio – “Soprano Raquel Suarez Groen lent Marzelline measures of humor and humanity that made her part in the opera more vital that many singers have made it. Beginning with the charming duet with Jaquino that opens Act One, she took advantage of every opportunity for detailed characterization that Beethoven gave to her. She sang ‘Es wird ja nichts Wichtiges sein’ delightfully, the repeated top Gs and coloratura cresting on top A employed to impart Marzelline’s growing frustration with Jaquino’s refusal to accept that she is in love with Fidelio. Suarez Groen sang Marzelline’s Mozartean aria ‘O wär’ ich schon mit dir vereint, und dürfte Mann dich nennen!’ deftly, and, unlike many Marzellines, she ensured that her presence was noticed in the quartet by phrasing ‘Mir ist so wunderbar, es engt das Herz mir ein’ imaginatively and dexterously negotiating the coloratura. Joining Leonore and Rocco in their fantastic trio, she declaimed ‘Dein gutes Herz wird manchen Schmerz in diesen Grüften leiden’ beautifully and ascended to the top C with spot-on intonation. Suarez Groen’s reaction to learning Fidelio’s true identity in the opera’s finale provided a precious moment of levity…she sang sweetly and illuminated the stage with her radiant smile”
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"...Suarez-Groen is a standout...” – The Huffington Post
¡Figaro!(90210) – “Scott nicely calibrates his character’s desires; Suarez-Groen is a standout.”