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Deanne Meek

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Deanne Meek is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has had an active international career since the mid 1990s. She has performed at several major opera houses around the world, including La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.

Life and career

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Raised in Richland, Washington, Meek earned a B.A. from Whitman College in 1983 before pursuing vocal studies at the Peabody Institute of Music (Bachelor of Music, 1988) where she was a pupil of renowned mezzo-soprano Elaine Bonazzi.[1][2]

In 1996 Meek made her professional opera debut at the New York City Opera (NYCO) as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She returned there the following year to sing both Diana in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride[3] and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.[4] She appeared at the NYCO again in 1998 to portray Harriet Mosher in Tobias Picker's Emmeline.[5] In the Spring of 1998 she portrayed Karolka in Jenůfa at the Spoleto Festival USA.[6] In 1999 she portrayed Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.[7] She returned to Saint Louis the following year as Zenobia in Handel's Radamisto.[8]

In 2001 Meek made her debut at Opera Pacific as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier,[9] her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as one of the Cretan women in Idomeneo, and returned to the Spoletto Festival as Dido in Dido and Aeneas.[10] Later that year she appeared as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Met. She has since returned to the Met as the Second Sprite in Rusalka (2004) and the Second Esquire in Parsifal (2006).[11]

In 2003 Meek made her debut at the English National Opera as Ruggiero in Alcina.[12] In 2004 she returned to Opera North as Rosina in The Barber of Seville,[13] and appeared at the Grange Park Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola.[14] In 2005 she made her debut at the Opéra national du Rhin as Dorabella in Così fan tutte.[15] In 2006 she portrayed Ines in Il trovatore at the Bregenzer Festspiele,[16] and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos at Tulsa Opera.[17]

In 2007 Meek created the role of Ma Joad in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath at the Minnesota Opera.[18] That same year she appeared as Bianca in Alexander von Zemlinsky's Eine florentinische Tragödie at the Bard Music Festival with conductor Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra.[19] In 2008 she performed the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Utah Opera.[20]

In January 2009 Meek portrayed the title role in Marc Blitzstein's Regina at the Utah Opera.[21] The following June she made her debut at La Scala in Milan as Hermia in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.[22] Later that year she performed the role of Guilhen in Vincent d'Indy's Fervaal at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.[23] In 2010 she sang Bianca again for her debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

In 2011 Meek portrayed Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In 2013 she sang in the world premiere of Sheila Silver's song cycle Beauty Intolerable alongside soprano Lauren Flanigan in New York.[24] In 2014 she sang the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Florentine Opera.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Recital to Honor Acclaimed Mezzo-Soprano Elaine Bonazzi". Stonybrook University Happenings. May 2, 2012. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  2. ^ "Johns Hopkins University Commencement 1988". mocavo.com. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  3. ^ Allan Kozinn (October 6, 1997). "Opera Review: The Heroes May Be in Love, but It's the Staging That's Peculiar". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Allan Kozinn (April 4, 1997). "The Appeal Of Modest Durability". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Bernard Holland (2 April 1998). "Opera Review: Exploring The Heart Of Lyrical Americana". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Spoletto Festival 1998 program. Spoletto Festival. 1998. p. 34.
  7. ^ Allan Kozinn (June 18, 1999). "Opera Review: Pearl Fishers, Figaro and Othello in St. Louis". The New York Times.
  8. ^ John von Rhein (June 25, 2000). "Spirit in St. Louis: Opera Theatre's 25th Season Merges the Old, New and Different". Chicago Tribune.
  9. ^ Chris Pasles (April 3, 2001). "Lyrical Longings: Strauss' 'Der Rosenkavalier' Ponders Love, Aging and the Class System in Musically Challenging Comedy". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ^ John Fleming (June 5, 2001). "Speaking of symbols". Tampa Bay Times.
  11. ^ "Deanne Meek". Metropolitan Opera Archives. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  12. ^ Rupert Christiansen (April 18, 2013). "An overdose of excess". The Daily Telegraph.
  13. ^ Kara McKechnie (2014). Opera North: Historical and Dramaturgical Perspectives on Opera Studies. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 416. ISBN 9781783505029.
  14. ^ Rupert Christiansen (June 16, 2004). "Bodice-ripping in the brothel". The Daily Telegraph.
  15. ^ "France". arte.tc. October 11, 2005. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015.
  16. ^ Jane Wilkinson (2007). Performing the Local and the Global: The Theatre Festivals of Lake Constance. Peter Lang. p. 122. ISBN 9783039110476.
  17. ^ "In Review: Ariadne auf Naxos". Opera News. 70 (11). May 2006.
  18. ^ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780810883253.
  19. ^ Vivien Schweitzer (July 30, 2007). "A Double Bill of Viennese Romanticism". The New York Times.
  20. ^ Edward Reichel (May 4, 2008). "Masks integral to 'Giovanni'". Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014.
  21. ^ Howard Pollack (2012). Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World. Oxford University Press. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-19-979159-0.
  22. ^ Georgio Pugliaro, ed. (2009). Opera 2009. Annuario dell'opera lirica in Italia. EDT. ISBN 9788860404978.
  23. ^ Anthony Tommasini (October 15, 2009). "A Journey of Religion and Love". The New York Times.
  24. ^ Mihaela Buhaiciuc (2014). "The Art of Singing: The Science Of Emotions". Trafford Publishing. ISBN 9781490716671.
  25. ^ Michael Muckian (21 March 2014). "Florentine follows Baroque casting in 'Julius Caesar'". Wisconsin Gazette. Archived from the original on 2015-04-01.
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