Maureen McKay
Guestsoloist - Soprano
www.maureenmckay.com/
Musette in »La Bohème«,
Blanche de La Force in »The Dialogues of the Carmelites«,
Sophie in »The Knight of the rose«
Maureen McKay earned her Bachelor of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia (summa cum laude) and her Master of Music at The Ohio State University.
In the 2009-10 season Maureen McKay joins the Komische Oper Berlin as Marzelline in Fidelio and Norina in Don Pasquale, both new productions, as well as for Antonia in Les contes d Hoffmann and Musetta in La bohème. She will also return to the Opera Company of Philadelphia for Eurydice in Glucks Orphée et Eurydice and join the Metropolitan Opera roster for Hänsel und Gretel.
In the 2008-09 season, she returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for her first performances of Elisa in Il re pastore as well as to the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Cleveland and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Tulsa Opera. She also sang her first performances of Zerlina in Don Giovanni with New Orleans Opera, Musetta in La bohème with Opera Omaha, the Dew Fairy and the Sandman in Hänsel und Gretel with the Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku Opera Project throughout Japan. She also returned to Utah Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem and Debussys La demoiselle élue.
Among her previous engagements are Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Lightfoot McLendon in Cold Sassy Tree with Atlanta Opera, Lilla in Una cosa rara with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Despina in Così fan tutte and Caroline Gaines in Richard Danielpours Margaret Garner with New York City Opera, Norina in Don Pasquale, and her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Leonard Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl.
The sopranos concert performances include a program of Viennese music by Lehár and Johann Strauss with the Saint Louis Symphony, Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, Mahlers Symphony No. 4 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under the baton of Gerard Schwarz (to be released on a commercial recording), Griegs Peer Gynt with the Oregon Symphony, and Louis Andriessens The New Math(s) with the Seattle Chamber Players. With Seattles Music of Remembrance, she premiered Lori Laitmans song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly for soprano and clarinet and sang Aninku in Tony Kushners adaptation of Hans Krasa’s Brundibár; a recording including both Brundibár and Laitman’s song cycle is available on the Naxos label. She also performed Simon Sargon song cycle, Shema, with Music of Remembrance.
A former member of Seattle Operas Young Artists Program, she was seen as Flora in Brittens The Turn of the Screw and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. As a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera Company, McKay was seen in the roles of Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Ismene in Telemanns Orpheus, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.