Elizabeth Herlitz Cortes
Director of Development, Guest Artist
Having established herself as the go-to young soprano in the greater Texas and Louisiana region, Elizabeth Herlitz Cortés appears regularly on the stages of Austin Opera, Opera San Antonio, Alamo City Opera, Spotlight on Opera, the Mid-Texas Symphony, and in many concert venues. In January 2018, she made her company and role debut with Texas Hill Country Opera as Roselinda from Die Fledermaus in their Annual New Year’s Eve Masked Ball Celebration. She also performed as a featured soloist in Alamo City Opera’s Opera in the Park. In February 2018, she also reprised the role of Mrs. Nordstrom in Sondheim's A Little Night Music with Alamo City Opera.
In 2017, she made her Austin Opera solo debut as Butterfly’s Mother in Madama Butterfly; her Alamo City Opera debut as The Flower Girl in Daniel Catán’s La hija de Rappacini, and appeared as a guest artist with Spotlight on Opera, where she sang the roles of Magda de Civry in Prince Orlovsky’s Ball (a Fledermaus pastiche in which characters from other operas are party guests) and Chiquita in Hector Armienta’s bilingual children’s opera, The Coyotes and the Rabbits/Los coyotes y las conejas, which toured Central Texas. She next will make her role and company debut with Opera San Antonio as the First Witch in MacBeth.
In 2016, Elizabeth concertized extensively, appearing as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Seguin, Texas; Opera Piccola of San Antonio’s Opera in the Park Concert, and as an Opera Ambassador for Spotlight on Opera. She also appeared in the choruses of Austin Opera (Aida, Der fliegende Holländer), Opera Piccolo of San Antonio’s Abduction from the Seraglio, and the Mid-Texas Symphony’s Messiah.
Elizabeth’s repertoire includes roles such as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), the title roles in Tosca, Suor Angelica, and Susannah, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Leonora (Il trovatore), Nedda (I pagliacci), and Magda (La rondine). She is currently making her first foray into Wagner with the role of Senta from Der fliegende Holländer.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Elizabeth was a semi-finalist in the 2004 Shreveport Opera’s Singer of the Year Competition and has been heard as Mimi in the New Orleans Opera Guild Concert version of La bohéme and the 1st Touriere in Suor Angelica with New Orleans Opera. While completing her Masters of Music degree at Bowling Green State University, she served as an apprentice at Toledo Opera, where she sang Musetta (La bohéme) and Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), as well as over 200 school performances as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Adina in L’elisir d’amore in specially condensed versions. Other appearances include Mrs. Nordstrom from Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, La Suora Infermiera (Suor Angelica), and Le Fer (L’enfant et les sortileges) with Utah Festival Opera, as well as the High Priestess (Aida) and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) with Hudson Opera Theater.
Elizabeth is also a passionate advocate for opera outreach. She is the General Manager and Founder of Texas Concert Opera Collective, a non-profit organization that offers free concert opera performances to nearly 2,000 students residing in the counties between San Antonio and Austin, but also gives local professional singers the opportunity to perform repertoire of their own choosing. In its 2018-19 Season she will perform the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah.
Ms. Cortes is a student of internationally known baritone Ronald Ulen. She resides in New Braunfels, TX with her husband, Raul, their sons Andy and Thomas, and Little Nuggett, their attention-mongering Hurricane Katrina rescue cat.
Spotlight 2023:
Director of Development, Classes
Board Member
Madama Butterfly, Madama Butterfly