Praised by the Houston Press for performances “full of vigor and spirit,” soprano Elizabeth Gautsche is making a splash at home and beyond. Ms. Gautsche most recently sang as Barbelle 2 in Houston Grand Opera’s workshop production of The Strongest of the Strong and as Peep-bo in The Mikado with the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Previously, she performed as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Echo Ensemble Austin and gave a solo Czech song recital at the Czech Museum Center Houston.

Ms. Gautsche made her professional debut in 2017 with Opera in the Heights as Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Previous roles include Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rusalka in Dvořák’s Rusalka, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Telemaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. She also performed as Norina in Don Pasquale, Rose in Street Scene, Echo in Ariadne auf Noxos, and Frasquita in Carmen in the Shepherd School’s opera scenes productions.

In addition to her operatic career, Ms. Gautsche serves as a teaching artist with the Houston Grand Opera. She works to cultivate empathy and social awareness through music in the Houston Detention Center, the Houston Women’s Home and the HAWC center. She was the coordinator and soprano soloist of the HAWC’s beneficiary concert, “Exultate! Uplifting women through song” in 2018. Ms. Gautsche is a passionate and sought-after teacher who has served on the voice faculty at Sam Houston State University. She maintains a private studio, working closely with high school students from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and St. Agnes Academy.

Ms. Gautsche has also served as the temporary studio administrator for the Houston Grand Opera Studio and as the assistant to the director of Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti summer training intensive in Lucca, Italy. 

Ms. Gautsche earned an MM in Voice Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and a BM in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).