Laura Claycomb (born August 23, 1968) is an American lyric coloratura soprano singer. Background Claycomb was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, but grew up in Dallas, where she excelled in church and school choir, winning numerous youth competitions, such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing, U.I.L., and Texas All-State Choir. A graduate of Highland Park High School, Claycomb won a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University, where she studied voice with Barbara Hill Moore, and completed two bachelor's degrees in vocal performance and foreign languages. She studied with the late Norma Newton from 1994 until Newton's death in 2008. She won the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1994, the Operetta Prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna in 1992, and First Prize in the National Opera Association Competition in 1992. Early career She gained international attention for the first time in 1994 after stepping in at the last minute to perform Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Geneva Opera. This role was also the vehicle of her debut at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. Another of her roles is Gilda in Rigoletto, which she has performed at the Canadian Opera Company, Lausanne Opera, Opéra Bastille, Pittsburgh Opera, New Israeli Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi Salerno, Houston Grand Opera, and the Dallas Opera. Her Lucia di Lammermoor at the Houston Grand Opera "literally catapulted the opening night audience to its feet with her creativity and versatility." (Don Moser, Houston Voice). Other notable roles have been her Linda di Chamounix; Marie in La fille du régiment; La Comtesse Adèle in Le comte Ory, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare; Morgana in Alcina; Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Ophélie in Hamlet. She got her start at San Francisco Opera where she held an Adler Fellowship, singing roles such as Xenia in Boris Godunov, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Duchesse Medina-Sidonia in Milhaud's Christoph Colombe, Marie in La fille du régiment and Fiakermilli in Arabella. Her role-debut of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos was the vehicle of her return to San Francisco Opera in 2002. She reprised the role at the Richard-Strauss-Festspiele in Garmisch with Ulf Schirmer, Los Angeles Opera and at Houston Grand Opera. Career performances Following her European debut in Geneva,