Born in Mumbai, Priti relocated to the USA with her family when she was just a baby. Her formative years unfolded in San Diego, California, where she felt the dichotomy and challenges of her immigrant heritage and her identity as an American youth. School life was not without its struggles, including encounters with bullies, but pretty soon, Priti discovered peace and inspiration in her school’s library and through the transformative power of music.
While pursuing a journalism degree in college and cultivating her piano skills for over a decade, Priti’s life took a pivotal turn when one of her music instructors encouraged her to explore vocal performance. “I was shy and sensitive, but when singing, something lit on fire and turned on. Once I sang that aria, I felt happy and alive, a feeling I hadn’t felt before. It was a cathartic experience for me,” Priti says.
Back then, she didn’t tell her parents she wanted to change her major, but she sought guidance at the career center on how to have an opera career. Shocked, the staff at the center didn’t know what to answer, but they told her to call the General Director of the San Diego Opera. Priti followed the guidance, and the GM not only picked up the phone but gave her advice and invited her to the upcoming stage auditions. “When you ask questions, people sense your genuine desire, and most people want to help,” Priti said.
After seeing her on stage, the Director of the SD Opera advised she had a great instrument in her voice, but further training was critical to be part of the Opera House or have a successful career. With this feedback, Priti got to work with voice lessons and competed in local competitions to return to auditions. The following year, she was accepted into the San Diego Opera House Choir, and this institution became her playground. Later on, she told her parents she was going to quit her radio station job and become an opera singer. “This path change has been the clearest yes to an idea I have ever had to follow. I am so glad that I didn’t know all the ins and outs of this career and industry because if I had known it would probably have scared me enough, I would never have done it.” Priti says.
Over the next two decades, Priti grew into a professional Opera Singer. She kept auditioning, competing, and working in the most significant opera houses in the world. Candidly, Priti acknowledges that some years proved challenging in sustaining a livelihood. In 2013, a new trajectory unveiled itself when she seized the opportunity to transition into an artistic administrator role at the San Diego Opera. Priti saw this role as a way to do everything in her power on the other side of the table to create a better industry for performing artists. This goal meant being able to fight for better fees for performers, make it a kinder rehearsal room, and make it her mission to advocate for a more diverse world within the Opera stage.
After being at SD Opera in this administrative role capacity, she moved to Minnesota Opera, where she served as Chief Artistic Officer, and between 2021 and 2023, she was the artistic director at Portland Opera in Oregon. In August 2023, a new life-changing opportunity came to become the Associate Director of the Laffont Competition at The Metropolitan Opera. The competition discovers promising young opera singers and assists in developing their careers. It is sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, including members and hundreds of volunteers from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Some of today’s greatest singers got their start in the auditions, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Eric Owens, Lawrence Brownlee, Nadine Sierra, and many more.
Between making the move from Portland to New York, being part of the GLI MBA 2024 Cohort, and starting this new position at The Met, Priti says, “The opera world and theatre in America is going through a challenging time because it is harder to get people back into theatres post-covid, and every day there are new conversations about diversity and relevance in today’s world. I am excited to continue my path in such a great institution like the Met, all the while remaining committed to innovation and continued learning from an international faculty at the GLI’s MBA”.