Grand Junction Mezzo Soprano Ashley Troester Returns to Carmen in Tokyo and Vienna After Injuries, Turning a High School Movie Screening Into a Professional Breakthrough

GRAND JUNCTION, CO — Ashley Troester’s professional path came into focus this year in a way that felt personal as well as symbolic. The mezzo soprano, who grew up in Grand Junction, sang Carmen in Tokyo after first seeing the opera as a Grand Junction High School student during a Metropolitan Opera simulcast at Regal Cinema 14.

What once felt like an exciting night at the movies became a full-circle career milestone. Troester said 2026 has already brought major performance opportunities, and the run of work has reinforced how far she has come from local stages to international opera houses.

The Theatre Project and Grand Junction High School gave her first stage training

Troester’s earliest performing experience came with The Theatre Project and artistic director Dana Lyn Schmidt. She said she stayed involved for years, beginning in fifth grade and continuing through the end of high school, then returning in adult productions while in college.

Those early credits included youth productions such as Shrek The Musical Jr. and Seussical Jr. She also sang in the Grand Junction High School choir, where choir director Brad Hirsh connected her with Stefanie Anduri, then a voice faculty member at Colorado Mesa University.

That introduction changed the direction of her training. When Anduri suggested classical music and opera, Troester said she tried it and quickly realized the material suited her voice better than the music she had been studying before. That experience pushed her toward CMU as a vocal performance major.

Colorado Mesa and San Francisco Conservatory sharpened her classical path

At Colorado Mesa University, Troester continued studying with Anduri and other music faculty members while building the technical and performance background needed for a classical career. She graduated in 2021 and then moved on to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for a master’s degree in vocal performance.

There she studied with mezzo soprano Catherine Cook and trained at a school she described as highly ranked for classical master’s performance degrees. Troester said the move was intimidating at first because many classmates came from conservatories such as Juilliard or Curtis, but she also felt prepared.

She credited her earlier teachers with giving her the tools to keep up and focus on music rather than insecurity. That preparation also helped her learn the expectations of working as a professional singer, including the practical do’s and don’ts of the industry.

Medical setbacks and a car crash did not stop her momentum

Troester said the stretch between her 2023 master’s degree and this year included medical incidents and a serious car accident, interruptions that sometimes pulled her away from performing. Even so, she kept working and kept saying yes to new opportunities.

That resilience showed up in appearances with Opera Colorado and the Vienna Summer Music Festival. Troester said her background in a smaller community helped her handle setbacks without losing confidence, because she had already learned how to keep moving forward when resources were limited.

She also said Grand Junction taught her to look for opportunity rather than wait for it to appear. In her telling, the city can prepare people for many different careers if they are willing to seek out what it offers and trust the path they build from there.

A crowded 2026 calendar sent her from Boulder to Tokyo and Vienna

Troester’s 2026 performance calendar began with several concerts with the Boulder Symphony and is set to end in December with Handel’s Messiah, where she will sing as the alto soloist with the same ensemble. Between those dates came a long list of international and regional engagements.

One of the most important was Carmen with the Tokyo Opera Studio in Japan, where she performed the title role she called her dream part. Soon after that, she traveled to Vienna and served as the backup for award-winning singer Mary Millben during the U.S. Embassy Vienna’s 250th anniversary Fourth of July celebration.

Troester said she did not end up singing there, but she was ready to step in if needed and felt honored to be selected. Weeks later, she was back in Vienna Summer Music Festival’s Carmen, this time as Escamillo and as the backup for Carmen, followed by Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, or The Magic Flute.

Denver is now home base as she prepares for Indianapolis Opera

After returning to Denver, which she now calls home base, Troester had time to shake off jet lag before another appearance with Boulder Opera in Mozart vs. Salieri: A Summer Opera Rivalry Concert on Aug. 23. Her schedule then shifts again with the arrival of September.

She is set to begin a resident artistic position with the Indianapolis Opera, a job that will include multiple performances. Among them is Flora in La Traviata in November, another step in a career that now appears to be gaining real stability as well as visibility.

Troester said earning a living from music has been deeply satisfying, especially because so many people assume it cannot be done. Looking back at the student who once watched Carmen from a movie theater seat, she said the chance to return to the same opera as a working singer has been one of the clearest signs that the path was worth it.

Why the Grand Junction years still matter to her career

Troester’s story keeps circling back to Grand Junction because she believes her hometown shaped both her craft and her outlook. From The Theatre Project to high school choir to Colorado Mesa University, she said each stage of her training added something important, even when the opportunities were not as abundant as in larger arts centers.

That foundation mattered most when health problems and an accident threatened her performance rhythm. Instead of stopping her, the experiences seemed to strengthen her confidence that she could recover, return to the stage, and keep building toward bigger roles.

For Troester, the payoff is not only artistic. It is also the simple fact that she can now work in opera and support herself doing it, something she said feels fulfilling after years of training and uncertainty.

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