Mary Kristine Hughes
Ms. Hughes holds a Bachelors and a Masters from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and from Boston University's Opera Institute.
She was an apprentice at Tanglewood, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and a Sullivan Grant winner. Before studying voice she was a flutist, but ultimately wanted to become a famous barrel racer. Ms. Hughes counts working at the Met as one of her greatest accomplishments, with her greatest being mom to Gabriel, Joaquin, and Javier.
Hometown: Longmont, Colorado
Met Debut: 2006
Elizabeth Sciblo
Elizabeth Sciblo graduated with a Bachelors degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University.
She went on to pursue graduate studies in Vocal Performance from The College Conservatory of Music at The University of Cincinnati. She joined the MET Chorus in September 2013 after working full-time in corporate America for 12 years. She is honored to be singing at the Met after years of dreaming about it. It's a wonderful life!
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Met Debut: 2013
Stephanie Chigas
Ms. Chigas studied at the U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Boston University. She apprenticed with Santa Fe Opera and Glimmerglass Opera.
Career highlights include roles with Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, solo concert work with the NY Phil, and at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall. She is the winner of the 2005 George London Foundation Competition, the recipient of the 2004 Stephen Shrestinian Award, and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2003 Met National Council Auditions.
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Met Debut: 2010
Rebecca Carvin
Rebecca graduated from Ohio University, in Athens, OH, with a degree in Voice Performance, English Literature, and Library Science.
She continued her studies in Opera Performance at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
Hometown: New York, New York
Met Debut: 1995
Elizabeth Brooks
Ms. Elizabeth Brooks is originally from Dallas, TX, and joined the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in 2013.
She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. Ms. Brooks has performed with many wonderful opera companies including Opera Colorado, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Baltimore Concert Opera.
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Met Debut: 2013
Marie Te Hapuku
Joined the MET Chorus in 2013
Ms. Te Hapuku was recognized as "the sort of voice that the orchestra loves, fitting into its texture with an easy warmth" by Opera News.
Originally performing as a principal soloist, her career has taken her to the premiere opera stages of exotic locations, including Barcelona, Sydney, Tokyo, and Bozeman, MT. She enjoys Polynesian dancing, watching rugby, baking pavlovas for her two kids, and trying to master the art of knitting. Website: www.kiwisoprano.com
Hometown: Gisborne, New Zealand
Lynn Taylor
Ms. Taylor's Master of Music was at the U. of North Carolina, Greensboro, then CCM. Her solo debut was with Seiji Ozawa in San Francisco.
Lynn was Katie in Some Like it Cole for international tour and concerts with Buffalo and Shreveport Symphonies. She was a fashion model for Bill Blass and the industry, and had a jeans commercial. Acting credits included work on Law and Order, scenes in Alice with Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, and with Telly Savalas in the last Kojak.
Hometown: Rock Hill, South Carolina
Met Debut: 2001
Belinda Oswald
Ms. Oswald has a Bachelors and Masters from the U. of Wyoming, and continued studies and performances at CCM (The Cunning Little Vixen).
Her Met roles include the 1st Orphan in Der Rosenkavalier, the Mother in Madama Butterly, and Gabriele in La Rondine. She also sang Pamina with Seiji Ozawa; Drusilla, Glimmerglass Opera; Giannetta and Papagena, Washington Opera; Frasquita with Lorraine Hunt as Carmen, Boston Lyric Opera; and roles with Fort Worth and Wolf Trap Operas.
Hometown: Sidney, Nebraska
Met Debut: 2000
Anne Nonnemacher
Ms. Nonnemacher earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Minnesota where she studied with Lawrence Weller.
She earned her Master's at the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Maitland Peters. While at the Met, Ms. Nonnemacher has worked as a soloist in many operas, taking her from her first solo screams in Elektra to a terrorizing Suburban Mom in Two Boys to one of Turandot's solo Ancelle in the 2015-16 season.
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Met Debut: 2001
Juli McSorley
Ms. McSorley was educated at St. Mary's University, U. of Kansas, Boston Conservatory, U. of Michigan at Interlochen, and Juilliard.
A member of the MET Chorus for 30 years, she has sung numerous small roles at the Met and was a soloist with over 10 symphony orchestras in the U.S. Ms. McSorley was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Eastern Division, a Tanglewood Music Fellow, NATS finalist, prize winner with Boston Opera Company, and Minnesota Singer of the Year.
Hometown: Portage, Wisconsin
Met Debut: 1985
Kate Mangiameli
Kate Mangiameli became a full-time soprano in the MET Chorus in the 2012-13 season. Kate studies at Indiana University and hails from Chicago.
Before joining the chorus, Kate was a soloist with Florida Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, and Chicago Opera Theater, and a young artist at Merola (San Francisco Opera), Glimmerglass Opera, and Opera Theatre of St Louis. A semi-finalist in the Met National Council Auditions, she has a passion for teaching young singers. Instagram: Ktmangia
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Met Debut: 2012
Ashley Mason
Ms. Logan has sung with Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Tanglewood Music Center, Virginia Opera, and Ash Lawn Opera Festival.
Favorite roles include Anne Egerman (A Little Night Music), The Singer (The Last Savage), and Candy Starr (One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest). Thanks to Penny Bitzas, Lindsey Christiansen, k. jenny jones, Richard Hess, and especially Maestro Stephen Lord. Ms. Logan is a graduate of CCM (MM and BM) and Boston University’s Opera Institute.
Hometown: Princeton, New Jersey
Met Debut: 2013
Seunghye Lee
Ms. Lee graduated from Manhattan School of Music under Edith Bers.
She went on to appear at Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, and Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Lee is a former prize winner of the Licia Albanese competition.
Hometown: Seoul, Korea
April Haines
April has been part of the Met for 20 years, after graduating from Morgan State University as a student of Todd Duncan and Barbara Conrad.
Her stage legs were acquired internationally with smaller companies in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, England, Denmark, Russia, Slovenia, and the greater United States.
Home Town: Baltimore, Maryland
Met Debut: 1995
Laura Fries
Ms. Fries attended the U. of Southern California, where she studied with Martial Singher, Richard Miller, Ena Thiessen and Judith Natalucci.
Originally based on the West Coast, Ms. Fries sang with prominent performing ensembles in opera, oratorio and concert. Prior to joining the MET Chorus she was a competition winner, master clinician, and competition judge. Ms. Fries has very much enjoyed her time at the Met as a chorister and as a soloist.
Hometown: Ypsilanti, Michigan
Met Debut: 1997
Suzanne Falletti
Ms. Falletti was a regional Met Opera National Council winner and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
Prior to that, Suzanne sang with many regional opera companies and was on the faculty of NYU's Tisch School of The Arts. As an Artist-in-Residence in Houston, she founded OPERA TO GO, an outreach program of the Houston Grand Opera. More recently, she has been a guest speaker at The Eastman School of Music and The Boston Conservatory.
Hometown: York, Nebraska
Met Debut: 1995
Karen Dixon
Soprano Karen Dixon joined the full time chorus in 2001. Originally from Greenville, SC, she graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 1989.
Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina
Met Debut: 1997
Maria D'Amato
Ms. D'Amato is a graduate of Boston University and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and trained as a Seattle Opera Young Artist.
She has performed Mimi with Sarasota, DiCapo and Ash Lawn Operas; Pamina and Desdemona with Sarasota Opera; Mozart Requiem with Seattle Symphony; Carmina Burana with Eugene Ballet and North Arkansas Symphony, and solos in Two Boys, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus and Manon Lascaut with the Metropolitan Opera.
Hometown: Shirley, New York
Met Debut: 2012
Deborah Cole
Ms. Cole received a B.A. in Vocal Performance, and a B.A. in Studio Art from Furman University.
She went on to pursue her Masters of Music at the University of Tennessee where she studied with Edward Zambara and Ellen Faull. Ms. Cole was a Metropolitan Opera National semi-finalist and twice a regional finalist.
Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina
Met Debut: 1995
Lianne Coble-Dispensa
Photo by Joshua South Photography
Lauded by the NY Times as having a voice of “melting, devotional sweetness,” Ms. Coble enjoyed a vibrant career of concert, operatic, and chamber music performance prior to joining the full-time chorus in the 2015-2016 season.
Highlights include solo performances with the American Classical Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Carmel Bach Festival, Musica Sacra, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Musicians of the Old Post Road; National finalist recognition in the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition; collaborative choral work with Seraphic Fire; and numerous solo performances at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Coble-Dispensa (and her husband, Scott) can be heard on the GRAMMY-nominated album of Maximillian Steinberg’s “Passion Week” with the Clarion Choir.
Please visit www.liannecoble.com for more information.
Hometown: Liverpool, New York
Met Debut: 2010