RAQUEL SUAREZ GROEN
ACTOR/SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Known for her “fresh and clear” sound and her versatile performances of complex characters, Raquel Suarez Groen is a force to be reckoned with on both opera and theatre stages. Ms. Suarez Groen made her Broadway début in 2017 in the iconic role of Carlotta Guidicelli in The Phantom of the Opera. She continued as Broadway’s Carlotta for five years until the production closed in April 2023, performing the role more than 1,000 times. In 2024, she joined the international tour of The Phantom of the Opera, which begins in Shanghai and will continue throughout Asia and elsewhere. Other recent engagements for Suarez Groen have included The Mother in Ragtime with Toledo Opera, Magda in La rondine with Opera on the James, and several concert appearances with TerpsiKord at Symphony Space NYC.
Suarez Groen has been busy on camera these past few seasons as well, with an appearance on Law and Order: Organized Crime, several print campaigns running including Injectafer and SculpSure, and recording for a Best Buy holiday commercial. She also appeared as a soloist for NY Couture Fashion Week and in concert with Vancouver Philharmonic.
Of her performance as Roxanne in ¡Figaro! (90210), performed Off-Broadway at The Duke, critics praised every aspect of her performance, noting both the hilarity in her “hyper-screwball comedy performance” and her portrayal of “the suffering Roxanne Conti (affectingly sung by the soprano Raquel Suarez Groen).” The Huffington Post summed up this tour-de-force performance with their review: “Suarez Groen is poignant and witty.”
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...delights with her roulades and high notes..." – Play To See
The Phantom of the Opera – “Suarez Groen delights with her roulades and high notes. For all her evil grimaces, she is beautiful, like all the other female principals.”
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"...her hungry, ripe soprano boasts a bite..." – Broadway World
The Phantom of the Opera – “A spitfire in the often-misunderstood Carlotta, her hungry, ripe soprano boasts a bite that would pierce the firmest apple, bolstered by the grounding sexual dominance of her spoken mezzo.”
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"...exceptionally funny..." – NY Theater Guide
¡Figaro!(90210) – “Raquel Suarez-Groen as Roxanne captured the ‘actress’ archetype perfectly and was exceptionally funny in her characterization of the forgotten wife.”
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"…she sang sweetly and illuminated the stage with her radiant smile...” – Voix des Arts
Fidelio – “Soprano Raquel Suarez Groen lent Marzelline measures of humor and humanity that made her part in the opera more vital that many singers have made it. Beginning with the charming duet with Jaquino that opens Act One, she took advantage of every opportunity for detailed characterization that Beethoven gave to her. She sang ‘Es wird ja nichts Wichtiges sein’ delightfully, the repeated top Gs and coloratura cresting on top A employed to impart Marzelline’s growing frustration with Jaquino’s refusal to accept that she is in love with Fidelio. Suarez Groen sang Marzelline’s Mozartean aria ‘O wär’ ich schon mit dir vereint, und dürfte Mann dich nennen!’ deftly, and, unlike many Marzellines, she ensured that her presence was noticed in the quartet by phrasing ‘Mir ist so wunderbar, es engt das Herz mir ein’ imaginatively and dexterously negotiating the coloratura. Joining Leonore and Rocco in their fantastic trio, she declaimed ‘Dein gutes Herz wird manchen Schmerz in diesen Grüften leiden’ beautifully and ascended to the top C with spot-on intonation. Suarez Groen’s reaction to learning Fidelio’s true identity in the opera’s finale provided a precious moment of levity…she sang sweetly and illuminated the stage with her radiant smile”
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"...Suarez-Groen is a standout...” – The Huffington Post
¡Figaro!(90210) – “Scott nicely calibrates his character’s desires; Suarez-Groen is a standout.”