Bolivian soprano Shelén Hughes Camacho began her artistic journey as a Bolivian folklore singer and dancer before pursuing classical music. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, and a winner of the 2025 George and Nora Foundation Competition, the 2024 Opera Index Competition, First Prize at the 2024 Gerda Lissner Zarzuela Competition, and Third Prize at the 2025 Gerda Lissner Opera Competition. She was a finalist in the Renata Tebaldi and Ottavio Ziino International Competitions, and a semi-finalist in the Geneva Voice Competition and the Alfredo Kraus Competition.
Recent operatic highlights include Musetta (La bohème) with Opera Saratoga, where she returns in 2026 to sing Adina (L’elisir d’amore). Additional roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Teatro Nacional de Chile, Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) at Juilliard, and Pfc. Sonia Gonzales in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 and debuted with the New York Festival of Song in 2022. In 2025, she made her debuts with Oper Frankfurt (Morgana in Handel’s Alcina) and The Cleveland Orchestra (Carmina Burana), and she is slated to appear at the Vienna Volksoper in 2027.
Beyond the stage, Ms. Hughes Camacho is the founder of Voices for Bolivia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting elderly individuals living in extreme poverty through classical music.
