Siena’s Biography
Praised for her “mesmerizing sound… (which) would rival Homer’s sirens,” Siena Forest, a lyric coloratura soprano, “steals scenes” with her arresting portrayals, “spunkiness and feisty vocalism.” Siena enjoys a career in opera, oratorio, chamber music, and recital. Originally from Massachusetts, Siena relocated to the Twin Cities to join Minnesota Opera’s prestigious Resident Artist Program. Since then, Siena has taken the music scene by snowstorm performing with Minnesota Opera, Theater Latté Da, Lyric Opera of the North, Out of the Box Opera, New Music New Haven at Yale University, Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest, Mill City Summer Opera, Skylark Opera Theatre, LOFTrecital, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Opera Reading Project, OK Mozart International Music Festival, South Dakota Symphony, Central City Opera, Schubert Club, Source Song Festival, Twin Cities Opera Guild, Classica Chamber Players (formerly Hill House Chamber Players), Really Spicy Opera, St. Cloud Symphony, Opera on Tap, and Lakes Area Music Festival.
Recent credits include a year long concert series that travels to elderly residences across the Twin Cities metro entitled Skylark for Seniors with Skylark Opera Theatre and Mimì in Theater Latté Da’s long anticipated La bohème: “Forest was an excellent Mimi, aside from her voice which was beautiful, she conveyed a sense of adoration for Rodolfo in a performance that began in her eyes and radiated outward from there” (The Stages of MN). Siena was also recently awarded a Music in Action Grant from the Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest and will produce a virtual recital in the summer of 2022 on the theme of mindfulness and meditation featuring songs by a variety of composers, including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Claude Debussy, Jórunn Viðar, Paolo Tosti, Richard Strauss, Amy Aldrich Worth, and of course, Richard Wagner.
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 (1st Place in the 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 a 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 artists, and is an accomplished producer, fundraiser, consultant, and founder of OOPS MN: Opera-Oriented Project Sponsorships in Minnesota, a nonprofit whose mission is to support singers through co-productions and entrepreneurial education. In its first year and a half of operating, OOPS MN produced and funded 10 projects, which put $40,000 into the hands of 50 artists. Siena serves on the board of LOFTrecital and formerly on the board of Out of the Box Opera (2019-2021), where she also served as the artistic administrator.
When rehearsal ends, Siena spends her time hiking, camping, reading, cooking, baking (and eating) bread, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, taking pictures of her cats, and laughing with her husband, Dr. Luke Williams.
To learn more, read Siena’s Artist Statement.
