To celebrate and spotlight some of the field’s top emerging singers, OPERA America asked company leaders to nominate the artists who have caught their ears and eyes.

As a toddler, Ruby Dibble was fascinated by mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne’s performance of “C is for Cookie” on the show Sesame Street, in which the singer dresses as Amneris and sings with a chorus of Muppets. By the age of 4, Dibble was performing the ABC opera for her whole family. At age 11, she attended summer camps at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. And at the age of 15, she decided to become a professional opera singer.

It proved a fateful decision. After attending the Oberlin Conservatory, the young mezzo-soprano returned to Kansas City as an apprentice before continuing to build her career at the Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Curtis Institute of Music, and, finally, The Juilliard School.

“Ruby has excellent vocal technique, is a wonderfully engaging performer, and is versatile in a variety of styles,” says Katrina Thurman, director of artistic administration at Opera Omaha.

Dibble began a one-year appointment in Frankfurt, Germany, this fall, where she will sing in Tancredi, Carmen, and Manon Lescaut.

“I’ve been here for two weeks and I’m already being told I have an American house voice,” she says, laughing. Dibble plans to build a career in the States and abroad: “We’re encouraged as early-career singers to try and work in both Europe and the U.S.,” she explains. “A lot of us are going to Germany or Europe to get more national exposure to build clout and then returning to the States.”

Dibble has also sung with The Glimmerglass Festival and spent the summer of 2025 at the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. In 2024, she was a national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.

In the Wings is underwritten by generous support from Laurie E. Nelson Randlett, trustee of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.