Jacqueline Peláez

¡Hola! My name is Yolanda Jacqueline Peláez but everybody calls me Jackie. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. There I got my B.A. in Economics. In Cambridge, MA, I got a Master’s Degree in Opera Performance. I have not sung for a long while but if you are curious you can hear some of my singing here: http://www.jacquelinepelaez.com. I have been teaching Spanish since 2001, first at Harvard University and then at UCSB, and now at Westmont College, and I love it! I hope to see you in my class willing to enjoy the semester learning Spanish.

VITA

Jacqueline Peláez was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela.  She holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Universidad Central de Venezuela and a M.M. in Opera Performance from Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA).

In the New England area she has sung with several performing arts organizations, including NEC Gospel Choir, New England Conservatory Opera Studio, Operafest Summer Program, Concord Chorus, Longwood Opera, Boston Bel Canto Opera, Chorus Pro Musica, Moses Project, Bel Canto Music Festival, Boston Opera Project, Opera by The Bay, Vocal Arts Academy among others.

More recently, Ms. Peláez has performed the roles of Cherubino from “Le Nozze di Figaro”, the Second Witch from Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas”, and Dorothy from Massenet’s “Cendrillon”.

In 2005, Ms. Peláez moved to Santa Barbara, California, where she has sung as a soloist for the Santa Barbara Mission, the Santa Ynez Valley Chorale and most recently performed the role of the Nurse in the play The Night from Olmedo singing “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas” by Manuel de Falla  at the Performing Arts Center at UC Santa Barbara.

She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara.