American Taiwanese soprano CALISTA 若婕 (RO-JEI) SMITH is deeply passionate about telling stories onstage. Currently, Calista is a first year master’s student at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she studies with Gwen Coleman. Raised in Houston, Texas, she comes from a musical family and played the violin and piano for 15 years. 

Calista’s 2026 season is off to an exciting start, with her having been recently selected as a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition’s North Carolina District. She advanced to the Southeast Regionals in Atlanta in February, where she won an Encouragement Award. This coming summer, Calista will be a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where she will make her professional debut as the Shepherd in Tosca at the Filene Center, as well as prepare the role of Clorinda in La Cenerentola and sing in the ensemble of Eugene Onegin. In 2025, she covered the soprano solo in Mozart’s Requiem and sang Fiordiligi in scenes from Così fan tutte at CCM. She has also won the Joyce Van Cura award from the American Opera Society of Chicago and an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition’s San Diego District. This semester, she will sing Susanna and Donna Elvira in scenes from Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni at CCM.

Calista graduated from Northwestern University in December 2024, where she studied with Pamela Hinchman and earned dual degrees in voice and communications. While at Northwestern, she sang Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Cendrillon in Cendrillon, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Oberto in Alcina, and the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Mass in C Major. Calista also spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival, where she sang the German Woman in Jimmy Lopez’s Bel Canto and covered Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. While in Aspen, she also sang Zerlina, Gilda, Adina, and Frasquita in scenes from Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, L’elisir d’amore, and Carmen, participated in multiple masterclasses with Renée Fleming, Myra Huang, and Patrick Summers, and premiered three original works in collaboration with the composers. In Europe, Calista has sung Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi in Rimini, The Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel in Berlin, the Vixen in scenes from The Cunning Little Vixen in the Czech Republic, and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. She is also a GRAMMY-award winner from her time in the chorus of Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony. 

Calista thanks her family, friends, coaches, and teachers- always.