A frequent guest at prestigious companies, Ms. Piao recently made a successful debut at San Francisco Opera as Princess Jia in Dream of the Red Chamber and was promptly re-engaged for the company’s 2025–26 season to cover the leading role in the world premiere of The Monkey King. Her exceptional versatility was further demonstrated in the summer of 2026, when she starred as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Maryland Opera—a signature role she has also performed to critical acclaim with Boston Lyric Opera and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.
On the concert stage, Ms. Piao recently made her celebrated debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Magnificat. Other notable concert appearances include performances as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the American Classical Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Her extensive operatic repertoire includes leading roles such as Sandrina in L’infedeltà delusa with Sarasota Opera and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Knoxville Opera. She has also appeared on numerous American stages as Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Luisa (Luisa Miller), Magda (La rondine), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Gilda (Rigoletto).
Ms. Piao is a distinguished laureate of several prestigious vocal competitions in the United States. Her numerous accolades include First Prize at the Verismo Opera Competition, First Prize at the Vienna Summer Music Festival Competition, 2017 Winner Career Bridges Competition, Third Prize winner at the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Third Prize at both the Connecticut Opera Idol Competition and the Lois Alba Aria Competition, and an Encouragement Grant from the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition.
One small note: I changed “On the concert,” to “On the concert stage,” since that looked like a dropped word — let me know if the original phrasing was intentional or different.