Praised for her “mesmerizing sound… (which) would rival Homer’s sirens,” Siena Forest, an American lyric coloratura soprano, stands out for her “spunkiness and feisty vocalism.” Siena enjoys a career in opera, oratorio, chamber music and recital, with a special interest in new works and bel canto repertoire. Originally from Massachusetts, Siena recently relocated to the Twin Cities and has taken the opera scene by snowstorm performing this season with Minnesota Opera (The Italian Straw Hat, Jan 26-Feb 3), Out of the Box Opera, Loft Recital (AIDs Quilt Songbook, Dec. 1), Mill City Summer Opera, Skylark Opera (Così fan tutte, March 22-31), Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus (Dec. 7-9), and Lakes Area Music Festival.

Over the past five seasons with Minnesota Opera, Siena performed in The Italian Straw Hat, Dinner at Eight, The Shining, Rusalka, Die Zauberflöte, Ariadne auf Naxos, Carmen, The Manchurian Candidate, L’elisir d’amore and Hänsel und Gretel as a principal artist and member of the prestigious Resident Artist Program (2014-2016). Some highlights include premiering the role of Paula Jordan in William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight where she “fervently sang” a “gorgeous ballad” (“One Moment He’s Devoted”)… “one of the performances vocal highlights” and as Pamina in Komische Oper Berlin’s unforgettable production of Die Zauberflöte where she “soared through her arias, especially Act 2’s ‘Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden.’”

This past summer, Siena returned to Mill City Summer Opera for her third production as Frasquita in Carmen, having previously covered Marie in La fille du régiment in the summer of 2015. In August, she returned to the Lakes Area Music Festival as the First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Siena has also appeared with the South Dakota Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, OK Mozart International Festival, Central City Opera, and Indiana University Opera Theater.

In addition to placing 1st in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Arkansas District, Siena has been recognized by multiple organizations including Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Minnesota District, Piccola Opera, Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, top 10 scene-stealing performances in the Twin Cities Arts Reader, Central City Opera (Patsy Rose Musser Award), and Indiana University (Wilfred C. Bain Opera Scholarship Competition, Schilling-Tourner Friends of Music Scholarship, Artistic Excellence Award and Music Faculty Award). She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Indiana University where she studied with Carol Vaness. She currently studies with George Smith.

Siena is an enthusiastic advocate for the arts and on the board of Out of the Box Opera. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, reading novels and biographies, cooking, baking bread, laughing with her husband and cuddling their two cats.