Carla Vargas Fuster is a Puerto Rican soprano living in Chicago, Illinois. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where she was a recipient of the Eckstein Full-Tuition Scholarship and studied with mezzo-soprano Karen Brunssen.
Her past performances include Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress with Northwestern University Opera Theatre and Pamina in the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music’s production of Die Zauberflöte. In the fall of 2019, she was the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Victor Yampolsky. During her time at the Bienen School she has also participated in masterclasses with acclaimed singers Ana María Martínez and Matthew Polenzani as part of the Ticchio-Finnie Vocal Masterclasses Series. During their 2021 season, she was a Bonfils-Staton Apprentice Artist at Central City Opera were she performed the role of the Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas. On July 2022, she sung the title role of Chica in the world premiere of Johanny Navarro’s comic opera ¿Y los pasteles? in a coproduction of ProArte Musical and Teatro de la Ópera in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
She is a graduate from the University of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music of where she studied with mezzo-soprano Ilca López. During her time as an undergraduate student at the Conservatory she performed in several masterclasses for singers Justino Díaz and Sherrill Milnes and coach Jorge Parodi. Mrs.Vargas has participated in prestigious summer training programs that include the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and the Institute of Vocal Arts in Montréal, Canada. She was a finalist of the Puerto Rico District’s Metropolitan National Council Auditions in 2016 where she won the Daisy Ruiz de Marrero Encouragement Award. Most recently she was the First-Place winner of the 2018 Lyra New York Mozart Competition and one of the winners of the 2019 Evanston Music Club Scholarship.