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Nancy Maultsby (Burlington, North Carolina) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano.
She has performed often with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she appeared as Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, as well as the First Norn and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, all conducted by Zubin Mehta. She also sang La Cieca in La Gioconda there conducted by Bruno Bartoletti and Pauline in Pique Dame conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, both of which opened the company's season. She appeared as Erda in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung in the new Stephen Wadsworth Der Ring des Nibelungen with Seattle Opera. She has sung Fricka at Stuttgart Opera; Jocasta in Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in Naples, Rome, Dresden and Athens; Charlotte, Carmen and Orlovsky at Seattle Opera; Maddalena at the Netherlands Opera; Amneris with Minnesota Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Palm Beach Opera and at the National Theater Athens; Ottavia in Athens; Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at Florida Grand Opera and Opera Colorado; Maddalena at the Netherlands Opera; and Adalgisa in Genoa. Other operatic engagements have included productions of Die Ägyptische Helena at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (under Christian Thielemann); Carmen at San Francisco Opera and Pittsburgh Opera; and productions at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe Opera. A recent addition to her repertoire is Judith in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle which she sang in the acclaimed Robert Lepage production for her debut at the Opéra de Montréal, where she subsequently returned as Amneris.
In addition to her recordings of Elijah, Odyseus and Telarc's highly acclaimed recording of Mozart's Requiem - the premiere recording on period instruments with the Boston Baroque - Nancy Maultsby can be heard on Telarc's recording of Dido and Aeneas, also with the Boston Baroque. She is featured on box sets honoring Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra (G. Mahler 2nd) and Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Debussy's St. Sebastian). Her recent recordings include the Lamentation from L. Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 (“Jeremiah”) with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Telarc, Richard Yardumian's Symphony No. 2 with the Singapore Symphony on BIS, and Wagner opera excerpts on Naxos.
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A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; Italian: [ˌmɛddzosoˈpraːno]; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano.
Tatiana Troyanos was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent, remembered as "one of the defining singers of her generation". Her voice, "a paradoxical voice — larger than life yet intensely human, brilliant yet warm, lyric yet dramatic" — "was the kind you recognize after one bar, and never forget", wrote Cori Ellison in Opera News.
Blanche Thebom was an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director. She was part of the first wave of American opera singers that had highly successful international careers. In her own country she had a long association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City which lasted 22 years. Opera News stated, "An ambitious beauty with a velvety, even-grained dramatic mezzo, Thebom was a natural for opera: she commanded the stage with the elegantly disciplined hauteur of an old-school diva, relishing the opportunity to play femmes du monde such as Marina in Boris Godunov, Herodias and Dalila."
Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her baroque and classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by Wagner as well as various 20th-century composers. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.
Sigrid Onégin was a Franco-German operatic dramatic contralto who enjoyed a major international career prior to World War II. She was celebrated for the richness of its tone, its flexibility, its size, and its expert coloratura technique. She also possessed a wide vocal range.
Elisabeth Höngen was a German operatic mezzo-soprano and singing-actress. She was particularly associated with Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss roles, and with Verdi's Lady Macbeth. From 1947 onward she was one of the Vienna State Opera's most prominent artists for nearly 30 years.
Christine Goerke is an American dramatic soprano.
Hanna Schwarz is a German mezzo-soprano and contralto singer in opera and concert. In 1976 she performed the roles of Fricka and Erda in the centenary Jahrhundertring production at the Bayreuth Festival, directed by Patrice Chéreau.
Ortrun Wenkel is a German operatic contralto. She notably portrayed the role of Erda in the Bayreuth Jahrhundertring in 1976 and was awarded a Grammy Award as a Principal Soloist in 1983.
Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning was an American contralto, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
Karin Branzell was a Swedish operatic contralto, who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe. Her very wide range enabled her to sing both contralto roles and the occasional soprano role. She was particularly noted for her singing of the music of Richard Wagner, in roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhäuser), Erda, Brangäne, and Brunnhilde. She was considered on a par with Margarete Klose and Kerstin Thorborg as a Wagnerian contralto. Amneris (Aida), Dalila, Herodias (Salome), and Clytemnestra (Elektra) were among her other renowned roles.
Margaret Harshaw was an American opera singer and voice teacher who sang for 22 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera from November 1942 to March 1964. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano in the early 1930s but then began performing roles from the soprano repertoire in 1950. She sang a total of 39 roles in 25 works at the Met and was heard in 40 of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. She was also active as a guest artist with major opera houses in Europe and North and South America.
Edyth Walker was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the 1890s through the 1910s. She began her career performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertory, but later successfully added several soprano parts to her repertoire as well. While she did perform in Italian and French language operas, she had a clear affinity for works in the German language. She particularly excelled in the operas of Richard Wagner. After retiring from the stage, she was active as a voice teacher in both France and the United States. Her voice is preserved on several gramophone recordings, made mainly for His Master's Voice, between 1902-08.
Marga Anna Johanna Höffgen was a German contralto, known for singing oratorios, especially the Passions by Johann Sebastian Bach, and operatic parts such as Erda in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, performed at the Bayreuth Festival and Covent Garden Opera in London between 1960 and 1975.
Aura Twarowska is a Romanian mezzo-soprano. She was soloist of the Romanian Opera in Timișoara (1997–2010) and at the Vienna State Opera (2007–2016).
Kathryn Meisle was an American operatic contralto.
Ruth Siewert was a German contralto and voice teacher. She performed roles by Richard Wagner at major opera houses in Europe and at the Bayreuth Festival, and was known as a singer of oratorio and Lied.
Tichina Vaughn is an American operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano active internationally in opera, concert halls and recitals. Starting at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, her American career expanded into Europe, as member of the permanent ensembles of the Semperoper in Dresden and the Stuttgart Opera, where she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin in 2006. She has been a regular at the Arena di Verona and other major theaters worldwide, singing a wide repertoire span, with a "voluminous and dark mezzo" voice the dramatic Verdi roles such as Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlo, Azucena in Il trovatore and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Wagner's Ortrud Lohengrin, Venus Tannhäuser, Fricka Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung and Strauss, Herodias in Salome and Klytemnestra in Elektra. According to Opernglas, Vaughn has a natural "great intensity" on stage, with an ample "voice, which flows richly, even in the low registers." The Neue Zürcher Zeitung describes her voice as an "enchanting satisfyingly rich mezzosoprano". Bernard Holland of The New York Times called hers "A voice of quality", which had "the presence and personality that might well fit the Met... a mezzo-soprano whose strong upper register gave hints of a dramatic soprano to come".
Mihoko Fujimura is a Japanese operatic mezzo-soprano who made an international career based in Europe. She was recognized internationally after her 2002 debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Fricka in Wagner's Ring cycle. In concert, she performed in Verdi's Requiem and Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. In 2020, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera.
Uta Priew is a German operatic mezzo-soprano.
