Mary Ann McCormick, Mezzo-soprano

American mezzo-soprano Mary Ann McCormick has distinguished herself for her artistic diversity upon the operatic, concert and recital stages. In the 2001-2002 season Ms. McCormick appeared in La Traviata, Don Carlo and L'Enfant et les Sortileges at the Metropolitan Opera, followed by both Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Olga in Eugene Onegin with Opera Colorado. In the summer of 2002, Ms. McCormick returned to the Berkshire Opera as Mrs. Grose in Britten's The Turn o f the Screw the company's first performances in the historic Mahaiwe Theatre. In the 2002-2003 season she will return to the Metropolitan Opera for performances of La Traviata, Carmen and Les Troyens, appears with Pro Musica Columbus in performances of Handel's Messiah and Respighi's Land to the Nativity, and makes a long awaited return to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis for the American premiere of Jonathan Dove's Flight.

In previous seasons, Ms. McCormick has toured North America with Edo De Waart and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra as Brangane in concert performances of Tristan and Isolde; and joined the blossom festival in a concert performance of Carmen. She has repeatedly performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch, and most recently sang in Schubert's Mass in E flat, both in Philadelphia and New York's Carnegie Hall. After making her New York Philharmonic debut under Kurt Masur in the PBS Live From Lincoln Center television broadcast of Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien, she returned with Maestro Masur and the Philharmonic for the 1997 Lincoln Center Summer Festival in performances of Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacbt, followed by her Santa Fe Opera debut singing Dorabella ill a new production of Cosi Fan Tutte.

Mary Ann McCormick made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles conducted by James Levine, and has since returned to that company for numerous productions including hrr Walkiire, La Traviata, Die Zauberflote, and Madama Butterfly. Honored as a Young Artist for the Richard Gaddes fund for Young Singers at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, she has regularly performed with that company, appearing in Massenet's Condrillon, Dvorak's The Devil and Kate, Madama Butterfly, and Ariadne auf Naxos.

Awarded a Special Prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky competition for the best Tchaikovsky singing, Miss McCormick's numerous awards include a George London Foundation Award, a Pope Foundation Opera Award, a Richard Tucker Music Foundation Career Grant, the Boston Opera Association Young Artist Grant, William Matthews Sullivan Grants, and an Opera Index Career Grant. She was also a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the First Place Winner of the Seventh Annual Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition held at the Eastman School of Music.