For the past years, Ailyn Pérez has quickly risen to stardom, creating memorable performances all around the world and at the greatest theaters. This past year, she broke out at the Metropolitan Opera in memorable performances of Massenet’s “Thaïs” and most recently in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” OperaWire noted that Perez’s voice “must be heard.”

This week, Pérez returns to her hometown to sing her first staged opera at the Lyric Opera of Chicago after a successful debut in celebrating Plácido Domingo last season. The soprano will return to the French repertoire which has been a touchstone to her U.S success. This time she will return to Marguerite in “Faust” a role she created in Hamburg, Santa Fe and San Diego and was an instant hit. She will be joined by colleagues Ben Bernheim and Christian Van Horn and audiences should be ready for a captivating performance.

And Marguerite is just one of the high profile assignments for Pérez this season as she heads back to the Met for her third role as Juliette in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.” She is also slated for her signature Violetta in “La Traviata” at the Zurich Opera before heading to La Scala for her debut as Elvira in “Ernani,” one of her biggest assignments to date.

Read the entire feature via Operawire

Image: Cory Weaver for Lyric Opera of Chicago