Native Hawaiian soprano Tasha Hokuao Koontz has lent her “accurate, powerful voice” (Broadway World) to a gallery of leading operatic ladies and has been recognized by Parterre Box for her “sumptuous, gleaming lyric instrument” and by Opera Wire for her “secure silvery high notes.”
This season, she joins the San Diego Symphony as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the La Jolla Symphony for Mahler’s Second Symphony. Koontz also joins Palm Springs Opera as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. Last season, Koontz made her highly anticipated debut with Hawaii Opera Theatre in the demanding role of Hana Hooper Ha’alilio in the world premiere ofThe Sheltering Tree, where she returns to reprise her signature role of Tosca alongside fellow Native Hawaiian Quinn Kelsey in 2027.
She also sang the roles of La bergère, Une pastourelle, La chauve-souris, La chouette in L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the San Diego Symphony, and returned to Opera San Diego to sing the role of Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Koontz had a thrilling 2024-25 season, which included her highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as Niña in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and her South America debut singing the title role of Tosca with Opera Nacional de Chile.
A company favorite, Koontz debuted with San Diego Opera as Annina in La Traviata in 2017 and subsequently performed the roles of Edith in Pirates of Penzance, Frasquita in Carmen, High Priestess in Aïda, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Nella in Gianni Schicchi , Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, and covered the role of Mimì in La Bohème sung by Ana Maria Martinez. She also sang the role of Catrina in a 2019 workshop performance of El último sueño de Frida y Diego, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz and Latin GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Ms. Koontz subsequently originated the role of Frida Image 1 in the world premiere performances of Frank’s opera in 2022. In San Diego Opera’s 2021 concert entitled, “One Amazing Night,” Koontz “wowed with a knockout performance” (San Diego Union Tribune).
In 2019, Koontz made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to great acclaim, bringing her “fulsome, penetrating soprano voice” and “unflappable poise” (Chicago Sun Times) to the role of High Priestess in Verdi’s Aïda under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Muti.
Additional roles and houses on Koontz’s résumé include Violetta in La Traviata and Mimì in La Bohème with Opera on the Avalon, Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Central City Opera, Alice Ford in Falstaff with Indiana University Opera Theater and with /kor/ Productions in Chicago, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with Northwestern University, and Woman 1 in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Sugar Creek Opera.
Ms. Koontz took first place in the Musical Merit Foundation Awards competition and the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus Young Artist Competition, second place in the Susan and Virginia Hawk Vocal Scholarship Competition, and was the recipient of an encouragement award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Western Region. She was also chosen to compete in the semi-finals of the Belvedere Competition, the Premiere Opera Competition, and the Mentoris Vocal Competition and was named a Finalist in the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition and the Zenith Opera Competition. She has also won awards and recognition in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Illinois and Indiana Districts and Central Region as well as the San Diego District and Western Region, the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Competition, the Bel Canto Foundation Competition, and the Brava! Opera Theater Competition.
Ms. Koontz earned her master’s degree in music from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she studied with acclaimed soprano Carol Vaness, and received her bachelor’s degree in music from Northwestern University.
