Prior to that she played the title role of Madama Butterfly in Amore Opera’s spring production of Madama Butterfly and performed the role of Countess in The Muses Foundation’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In the fall of 2014, Ms. Pretto performed the role of Amelia from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera with Regina Opera in Brooklyn and sang in concert with Chelsea Opera in Manhattan. Other recent roles performed include the role of Mimi in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata, both with Amore Opera and also First Lady in the Muses Foundation’s production of Die Zauberflote and Antonia in Tales of Hoffman with Regina Opera in New York City. In 2010, she performed the title role in Tosca and the role of Rosalinda from Die Fledermaus with Amore Opera. In 2009, she performed Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the South Shore Symphony (Long Island, NY) and the role of Desdemona in Otello and Leonora in Il Trovatore with the Italian Academy Foundation in Yonkers, NY. She was heard via radio broadcast as a finalist in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region Opera Company competition (2009). In March of 2008, Ms. Pretto performed the title role in Turandot with the Lowell House Opera at Harvard University with the Harvard University Orchestra. Ms. Pretto’s participation in the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) program in Graz, Austria, led her to study with German, her fifth language, and is where she won third prize in their Meistersingerkonzert vocal competition. Back in New York, Ms. Pretto sang the role of Violetta (La Traviata) under the direction of Carmine Aufiero, and in scenes with the Prelude to Performance program under the direction of world-renowned soprano Martina Arroyo. As a resident artist with Dicapo Opera Theater (New York City), she performed Praskowia (The Merry Widow), Suor Dolcina (Suor Angelica), and Madame Lisette Raquin in the premiere of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin. Ms. Pretto has sung for dignitaries at the White House and for the Governors of New Jersey, New York and Arkansas. Ms. Pretto’s creativity and improvisational ability are on display in the feature film Slingshot and in a new production for Opera on the James where she sang over hip hop beats for Lynchburg, Virginia’s Garagefest. She was recently interviewed in Long Island by vlogger Evin Ginzburg and was featured on Little Rock’s channel 7 (NBC) for her role in “The Muses Project,” an opera event headed by the Muses Foundation. Her voice is heard in various commercials, as background vocalist on a number of rock albums and hers is the voice for the doll “Bilingual Betty.” She driving a motorcycle at age 4 and never stopped; she is an avid tango singer and dancer who does charity work with the Lions Club and reads to children at PS 192. Ms. Pretto is the first ever recipient of a scholarship from The Muses Foundation. The dramatic soprano’s current and prospective roles include Manon (Manon Lescaut), Suor Angelica, Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), and Aida.
