Elena McEntire's recent
operatic performances include Eolo in Cavalli's Giasone at the Aspen
Music Festival with Harry Bickett, Sesto in Handel's Giulio Cesare with One World
Symphony, the title role in Handel's Serse at the Lark Theater with Kenneth Cooper, and
Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Shaker Mountain Opera, Junge Oper Wien at the
Musiktheater Schoenbrunn (Austria), and Studio Lirico (Italy). Ms.
McEntire also performed Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma with Shaker
Mountain Opera and the title role of Carmen
in New York, New Jersey and with the Plovdiv State Opera
(Bulgaria).
Elena has premiered many contemporary works
including the western-regional premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town (based on the play by
Thornton Wilder) with the Aspen Music Festival under the baton of David
Zinman and a regional premiere in collaboration with composer Libby
Larsen of scena Mary Cassatt
for the New Century Music Club. She has been a featured soloist for
the San Francisco Song Festival where she performed Three Songs of Parting for a
tribute to Kirke Mechem and the premiere of Pablo Neruda Songs by Arturo
Rodriguez with the composer at the piano. Other premieres include the
jazzy Shoestring Symphony by Charley Gerard and Ten Thousand
Words (a recitation of the poetry of George Bush) by Memrie Innerarity
for Golden Fleece, Ltd., David Fetherolf's devilishly tricky Poems from the Red Umbrella for the
Astoria Music Society, and the lyric melodies of Vignettes: Trees and In Their Flight by
Stanley Grill, resident composer of One World Symphony.
An avid concert artist and recitalist, Elena
has performed several sacred works with period ensembles and early
music specialists, including Bach's Cantata
169 with Laurette Goldberg, Handel's Israel in Egypt with Anthony
Newman, Mozart's Great Mass in
C Minor, and Vivaldi's Gloria
(along with several opera roles) at the Dicapo Opera in New York.
Additional concert appearances include and performances of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn and
Mendelssohn's Infelice with
the Vratza State Philharmonic (Bulgaria), Brahms's Alto Rhapsody, highlights from
Rossini's Semiramide with the
Philharmonic Orchestra Of Luxembourg, and highlights from Rossini's Il Baribiere di Siviglia,
La Cenerentola and L'Italiana in Algeri at the Aspen
Music Festival.
Placing with distinction in many national and
international competitions, Elena is a winner of the New York region
MacAllister competition, a finalist in the Western and Eastern Regional
Loren L. Zachary National Competition, Finalist of the International
Coloratura Competition, Finalist and First Alternate of the Fulbright
Scholarship and Winner of the American Art Song Competition and winner
of Vienna's AWA Hannah Adler Music Award.
Additional opera roles performed include:
Siebel (Roméo et Juliette),
Orlovksy (Die Fledermaus),
Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), the
Zarzuela roles of Angelita (Chateau Margaux and La Menegilda (La Gran Via) and the alto roles of
Dryade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Lady Sangazure (The Sorcerer), Oberon (A Midsummer Night's Dream), La
Menegilda (La Gran Via), Tituba (The Crucible), and Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Georgette in
a German touring production of Rolf Liebermann's Die Schule der Frauen, and the
title role in Gluck's Orfeo.
REVIEWS
"The artists included... an extraordinary Elena
McEntire..."
-San Francisco Examiner "The best Orlovsky
I have ever seen."
-Janet Campbell, West
Coast Classical Artists
"Elena
McEntire's acting made the most of Cherubino's unease in a soldier's
uniform and embarrassment in a lady's bonnet...She also had a beautiful
voice."
-Albany Times Union
"Elena McEntire is
impressive physically and dramatically...Her voice has a terrific
facility for coloratura passages, as well as an exciting vibrant
tone... passionate and very moving."
-Ann Baltz, Director,
OperaWorks
"Elena is a singer
of great talent, intelligence and taste, ...musically
curious and most courageous in the way of the human voice as a
performance instrument... She is just the kind of singer who will carry
on tradition and refresh it with her talent, wit and wisdom."
-Libby Larsen, composer "Ms. McEntire
performed the role of Carmen... with full and deep understanding about
the emotional side... Her voice is a flexible instrument that responds
to every small detail... her vocal technique and musicality allow her
to perform with ease throughout the full range of her voice."
-Milen Nachev, Chief
Conductor, Balkan Philharmonic; Principal Guest
Conductor, San Francisco Sinfonietta; Former Artistic Director,
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra
"...unusual
dark and
dusky colors... excellent musicality, marvelous stage presence, very
quick to learn material... I always look forward to
collaborating with Elena."
-Elizabeth Hastings,
Conductor, Crucible, New York Liederkranz Foundation
"Elena is a striking
young woman and engaging on stage. She impresses and excites audiences
with her vocal skills and her physical presence. This is a
talent that should succeed in reaching the pinnacle of musical success."
-Elizabeth Mannion,
Founder/Director, Institute of Vocal Artistry
OPERA (partial list)
Adalgisa
Norma
Shaker Mountain Performing Arts
Festival, MA
2003
Carmen
Carmen
Plovdiv State Opera, Bulgaria
2003
Carmen
Carmen
Vratza State Philharmonic,
Vratza, Bulgaria
2003
Carmen
Carmen
One World Symphony, NY
2005
Carmen
Carmen
New Jersey Concert Opera, NJ
2005
Charlotte
Werther
Dicapo Opera Theater, NY
2003
Dritte Dame
Die Zauberflöte
Vertical Player Repertory, NY
2005
Cherubino
Le Nozze di Figaro
Shaker Mountain Performing Arts
Festival, MA
2003
Eolo, Giasone*
Giasone
Aspen Music Festival, AOTC
2005
Frasquinella
La
Perichole
Dicapo Opera Theater, NY
2003
Meg Page
Falstaff
One World Symphony, NY (concert)
2004
Mrs. Soames*, The Dead
Our Town (premiere)
Aspen Music Festival,
AOTC
2006
Orlovksy
Die
Fledermaus
Gulf Coast Symphony, FL
2003
Orlovksy
Die
Fledermaus
San Jose Lyric Theater, CA
2000
Serse (Xerxes)
Serse (Xerxes)
The Lark Theater,
NYOS, NY
2006
Sesto
Giulio Cesare (highlights)
One World Symphony, NY
2006
Sesto
La Clemenza di Tito (highlights)
One World Symphony, NY
2006
Siebel
Faust
Dicapo Opera Theater, NY
2003
Suzuki
Madama Butterfly
Dicapo Opera Theater, NY
2004
Tituba
The Crucible
Liederkrantz Opera, NY
2003
Ensemble
La Bohème on Broadway
Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles,
CA
2004
Previous: Georgette (Junge Oper
Wien German Tour); La Menegilda, Angelita (Jarvis Zarzuela Festival);
Lady Sangazure (Lamplighters/Opera West); Baba the Turk, Marcellina,
Orfeo, Oberon (SFCM Opera
Theater); Dritte Dame, Cherubino, Orfeo (Hochschule f. Musik Wien Oper
Program). (*covers not performed).
CONCERT (partial list)
Mozart, Hammerstein
Resound for
Camphill
Jazz at Lincoln
Center, NY (Neidich, Wadsworth, Eroica Trio)
2006
Handel
Spotlight Recital
Aspen Music Festival,
CO
2006
Hovhaness, Barber,
Grill
In Their Flight
(premiere); 9/11 Tribute to our Heroes
One World Symphony, NY
2006
Villa-Lobos, Rossini, and Bizet
Celebration at the Rim
Herbst Theater, CA (von
Stade,
Gilfry, Moser, Peabody Trio)
2005
Villa-Lobos
Postcards from Latin America
Aspen Music Festival (Harris
Hall)
2005
Handel
Israel in Egypt
BachWorks Series, NY (Anthony
Newman)
2005
Mechem
Tribute to Kirk Mechem
San Francisco Festival of Song,
CA
2005
Chavez, Ponce
Una Noche Mexicana
San Francisco Festival of Song,
CA
2005
Rodriquez
Pablo Neruda Songs (premiere)
San Francisco Festival of Song,
CA
2005
Mahler
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Vratza State Philharmonic,
Bulgaria
2005
Mendelssohn
Infelice
Vratza State Philharmonic,
Bulgaria
2005
Rossini, Bizet
Belle Voci (competition
concert)
Eugene Opera, OR
2005
Grill
Vignettes-Trees (mezzo and
cellos)
One World Symphony, NY
2004
Vivaldi
Gloria
Dicapo Opera Theater, NY
2003
Rossini
Semiramide (highlights, competition
concert)
International Orchestra of
Luxembourg
2000
Libby Larsen
Mary Cassatt
New Century Music Club, MN (premiere)
2000
Other: Mozart: Mass in C
Minor, Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Bach: Cantata 169, Weinachts
Oratorium
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
McAllister Awards (NY Region),
Winner
Liederkranz Foundation Awards,
Finalist
Hannah Adler Music Scholarship
(Vienna), Winner
International Coloratura
Competition, Finalist
Fullbright Scholarship (German
Opera/Lied), First Alternate
Aspen Music Festival, AOTC,
Scholarship
International Opera Festival
(Bulgaria), Guest Artist
Shaker Mountain Performing Arts
Festival, Scholarship
