Aimée Patrice Puentes

Aimée Puentes returns to West Bay Opera as Musetta, having previously apperaed as Pamina in The Magic Flute (1997), Micaëla in Carmen (1999) Dorine in Tartuffe last year. A native of Sacramento, California, Miss Puentes received her Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco State University. She has won numerous awards and competitions including The Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (First Place), The Burlingame Music Club, Pacific Musical Society and The National Association Teachers of Singing. She was a two-time West Coast Regional Finalist of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in San Francisco, and a winner of The Palm Beach Opera Competition, as well as a semi-finalist of The Loren L. Zachary Society Competition in Los Angeles California.

Miss Puentes has an active performance schedule, and has appeared with San Francisco Opera in the roles of the French Girl in Death in Venice (1997) and the Fifteen Year Old in Lulu in 1998. Miss Puentes has appeared with Opera San José in the role of Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, Micaëla and Frasquita in Carmen, as well as Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore. She has appeared with the New Orleans Opera Association as Poussette in Manon, as Sarah, First Friend of Augusta Tabor, in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and most recently as Frasquita. In 1999 she also performed with Chautauqua Opera, where she appeared as the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel as a member of the Opera Studio Program. Other leading roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Nanetta in Falstaff. Most recently she sang the role of Della in the world premiere of David Conte's The Gift of the Magi with the San Francisco Consevatory New Music Ensemble. A future engagement will be as Valencienne in The Merry Widow with Pensacola Opera.

Ms. Puentes has appeared as Zanetta in Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera production of The Princess of Trebizonde, and as Pamina. She made her debut with Berkeley Opera in the 1998 season as Sister Constance in Dialogues of The Carmelites, and with the San Francisco Opera Center in the role of The Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. In 1998 she participated with the Adler Fellows in The San Francisco Opera's Inter-active Education Program.

Miss Puentes has sung many solo concert performances, including Haydn's Creation with the Camerata Singers, Mozart's Vesperae Solemnes and Mass in C with San Francisco State University, Orff's Carmina Burana with the University of California at Santa Cruz, Rutter's Requiem, Handel's Messiah with the Diablo Valley Philharmonic, and Poulenc's Messe En Sol Majeur with the McGilvray Chorale. Among future engagements are solo parts in Handel's Israel in Egypt with the San Francisco Choral Society, A Tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Santa Cruz County Symphony, Carmina Burana with the Stanford University Symphonic Chorus, Mozart Mass in C-minor with the Diablo Symphony, and an all-Verdi concert with the

17 May 2002