THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2017-2018
As one of only two
winners of the
Opera Foundation’s
Curt Engelhorn
C o m p e t i t i o n ,
lyric mezzosoprano
Abigail
Levis joined the
Deutsche Oper Berlin
for the 2016/17
season in such
roles as Mercedes
in Carmen, the title
role in Hirsch and Purcell’s Dido, and Tebaldo in Don
Carlo. She returned to North America last December
to sing Messiah with the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra and Portland Baroque. An alumna of
the Utah Opera young artists program, she has
appeared there as Despina in Cosi fan tutte, in the
title role of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Cherubino
in Le nozze di Figaro and returns this season for
Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. Other season highlights
include Flora in La traviata for the Dallas Opera,
Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren for San Francisco’s
Philharmonia Baroque, Messiah for The Florida
Orchestra, Trouble in Tahiti for Opera Parallele in San
Francisco and a debut with Opera Philadelphia as
Testo in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and
Beecher’s I Have No Stories To Tell You.
Named “Debut Artist of the Year” by the Joy in
Singing Foundation, Levis was hailed by The New
York Times for her “lithe-voiced” performance at
the Morgan Library in First Songs, a showcase of
world premieres with soprano Dawn Upshaw. The
Boston Musical Intelligencer praised her “dramatic
style” and “high level of technical ability” in Israel
in Egypt with the Handel and Haydn Society
at Symphony Hall.
She has been awarded first prize in the San Diego
District Met auditions, prizes at the Classical Singer
Competition and Lyndon Woodside Oratorio
Competition, and a Career Bridges Grant from the
Schuyler Foundation.
53
American soprano
Ellie Dehn has been
praised by critics as
“a revelation” (Chicago
Sun-Times), acclaimed
for her “great
stage presence and
a voice combining
clarity and sensual
richness” (Wall Street
Journal).
This season, Dehn
made her role debut as the title role in Massenet’s
Manon at the San Francisco Opera. She returned to
the Grand Théâtre de Genève as the Countess in Figaro
Gets a Divorce, a modern addition to the Figaro
trilogy composed by Elena Langer. Concert appearances
include Handel’s Messiah at Saint Thomas
Church in New York City after a successful debut last
season with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Haydn’s
Creation.
Recent operatic highlights include leading roles
at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera,
Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, La Scala,
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Rome Opera,
and Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, among others.
Additional orchestral appearances include performances
with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati
May Festival, Ravinia Festival, Milwaukee Symphony,
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Mexico, Rome’s
Accadamia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Lincoln
Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.
Her discography includes Ravel: Intimate
Masterpieces, released on the Oberlin Music label
and distributed by Naxos America, and a live
recording of Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII at the Bard
SummerScape Festival.
ELLIE DEHN
Soprano
ABIGAIL LEVIS
Mezzo-Soprano