Photograph by Flavia Loreto
gina perregrino is an american opera singer, teaching artist, writer, and speaker.
Due to her notable work in opera, she has collaborated alongside authors such as Salmon Rushdie and Khaled Hosseini. Behind the screen, Gina has also been featured in the film Baawal (2023), directed by award winning director Nitesh Tiwari. The most recent opera/film-hybrid collaboration was with Afghan film director Roya Sadat and Roya Film House during the world premiere of the opera 1000 Splendid Suns with Seattle Opera. She has performed with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Philadelphia, The Atlanta Opera, The Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Ópera de Guatemala, OperaDelaware, and Central City Opera.
This fall marks her debut at The Metropolitan Opera, where she will be singing and dancing under producer and choreographer Deborah Colker as one of the Niñas in a new production of Golijov's flamenco opera Ainadamar.
Though primarily trained in opera, Gina's temperament is with the folk music of Mexico and Latin America. She is an avid performer of rancheras and mariachi, which she often performs with guitar in her musical duo Rocío. Duo Rocío combines popular standards and original compositions in Spanish. Her interpretation of Latin songs has also been featured in operatic crossover programs at companies like Santa Fe Opera.
Her work has been critically interpreted as "potent," possessing "swaggering strength" and "urgency" (Opera News). As a performer, whether she is on the stage, behind the screen, or she is speaking, her goal is to actively embody feminine freedom and give others the permission to be unapologetically themselves.
Gina's success has never been a road without hurdles (and occasional potholes).
She is a published writer and public speaker.
Her innovative lectures and workshops on creativity, artistry and vulnerability have been presented to graduating students at conservatories like New England Conservatory.
Read an article from the beginnings of her musings here, published in an Atlanta lifestyle magazine during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her featured article in HuffPost can be read here.
She is an artist-in-residence at Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary in Avondale, PA, where she teaches workshops on site alongside it's residents. She has teamed up with veterinarian Dr. Rob Teti to create an innovative, in-demand therapy program that brings a combination of breath work, classical music, and animals to local detention centers.
As a teaching artist, she has her own private in-person and virtual studio that accepts students with a range of experience, finding joy in watching the discoveries of complete beginners who previously identified as "tone deaf" and the growing mastery of professional musicians. Read student reviews here.
Along with having her master's degree from Manhattan School of Music, she credits discomfort and the nervous system as the teachers who have taught her the most.
Gina is attracted to those in history who are defiant, compassionate leaders.
Her favorite artist is Chavela Vargas.