Calista Ro-Jei Smith is a Taiwanese-American soprano who will pursue her Master of Music at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music this fall. Favorite operatic roles include Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Cendrillon in Cendrillon, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and Oberto in Alcina. Calista was recently awarded the American Opera Society of Chicago Award in honor of Joyce Van Cura and received an Encouragement Award at the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition San Diego District. She also won second place in the Donald Chen Young Artists Competition and was a semi-finalist in the 2024 Schmidt Undergraduate Vocal Competition.

A recent graduate of the Northwestern Bienen School of Music, Calista received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance and a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from the Northwestern University School of Communication. She is an alumna of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program (2024, 2023), where she appeared as ‘German woman’ in Jimmy Lopez’s Bel Canto and covered Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro.