I like telling this story way too much, so briefly, my mom took me to an encore screening of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte on October 18, 2017. I didn’t know what hit me. I walked out in a daze, and later that year saw The Magic Flute three times in one week at the Met. The rest is history.

How did you get into opera?

Are you affiliated with the Metropolitan Opera?

The short answer is no. I received limited but much-appreciated help my first year, but now I’m fully independent.

Are you related to mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard?

Oh, I wish!!! But no. We’re both Latinas, but have different ancestral countries.

This question is torture. I’ll name a few, in no particular order. Le Nozze di Figaro, Aida, Carmen, and L’Elisir d’Amore.

What’s your favorite opera?

Do you only listen to classical music?

Far from it! But I do listen to a lot of opera in my free time, I promise.

Verdi or Wagner?

Verdi, not even close. I greatly appreciate Wagner, but he would hate me, so no love lost.

Did your parents name you Violette because of La Traviata?

Apparently not. It was just destiny.