Although Roberts had been singing since she was young, it was not until she studied at Dartmouth that she branched out to opera.
Her freshman year at Dartmouth, Roberts joined Glee Club. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Roberts explained that it was this experience and particularly the guidance of Glee Club director Louis Burkot that inspired her to make a career out of opera.
"I took voice lessons with Louis all throughout my time at Dartmouth," Roberts said. "I came in thinking I would be in musical theater as an alto, but he knew better, so he sort of sent me in the direction of classical music."
Encouraged by Burkot and music professor Bill Summers, Roberts pursued a senior fellowship, for which she directed and starred in a "historically informed" performance of Handel's "Alcina."
"It was a great working relationship," Burkot said in an interview. "She was extremely talented, lots of fun and had all the right qualities that you need to have to be in this business."
Roberts graduated as a fellow with a degree in music.
"Pursuing the senior fellowship was definitely the kicker," Roberts said. "I was hooked to opera."
Roberts continued her study of opera after graduation. In 2006, she was accepted to the prestigious Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program through the National Opera in Washington, D.C.
"I think my first big break was the acceptance of the artist program for sure," she said. "There's just nothing like being under the umbrella of an A-level company with a mentor like Maestro Domingo. I learned so much. You're observing the best singers of the time at the height of their creative power, so there's nothing quite like being in the room when music like that is being made."
Studying in the program for the past two years, Roberts took center stage in October, after she won the role of Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme" with the Virginia Opera. The company staged eight performances in Norfolk, Fairfax and Richmond, Va.
"Musetta is a great character," Roberts said. "She's sort of the comic relief for the women in the opera. Musetta sits a little bit lower than most of the roles I sing, so it was really fun to figure out how to sing it well."
Peter Mark is the Virginia Opera's artistic director.
"I thought that hiring Elizabeth, who has a tremendous stature physically, would actually make Mimi fit right physically into the cast," Mark said in an interview. "Also, to have the voice of a different color, basically a little brighter than the [performer playing] Mimi... I think Elizabeth's voice is really quite high for a lyric role. It could be used for actually higher roles, but I think that the way she's working now, which will fill out the middle range of her voice and will pay off really well for her lyric repertoire."
Mark emphasized that he "loved" working with Roberts.
"She's so open and she's a very hard worker, so I think she will get very far based not only on her talent, but also on her work ethic, which is really quite extraordinary," he said.
Mark said that Roberts' experience in this production will serve her well in her future career.
"I just know that she will carry a lot of this production with her as she refines her craft and has more of a national and international reputation," he said.
This month, Roberts will be the soprano soloist singing Beethoven's symphony No. 9 with the National Chorale. She will also perform as the soprano soloist in Symphony of the Americas' "Opera to Broadway" in early 2010.
Roberts explained that her passion for opera continues to be the motivating factor in her career.
"I love the way opera can touch people and move people. I think as an artist your first instinct is to communicate. There are so many different modes of communication, but singing is the one that I am most drawn to," she said. "If you can communicate and move people, that's a great gift. People need to take advantage of and respect those kinds of gifts."
