A little about me

Three-time District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Melanie Spector is a soprano who was born and raised in New York City. She is a recent alumna of both the Aspen Music Festival (Fleming Artist) and the Detroit Opera Resident Artist Program. In a cast headlined by Angel Blue and Christine Goerke, she made her Detroit Opera debut in the 2022-23 season as the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida, in which she was praised for her “exceptional ability to nail pitch…coupled with the supreme cleanliness of her sound” (Operawire). Among her engagements at the Aspen Music Festival, she covered the title role in the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' and Melissa Studdard's Siddhartha, She, premiered Samuel Adams’ First Work with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and performed on the annual AOTVA Opera Benefit alongside Guest Artist Ana María Martínez. Last spring, she made full role debuts as Musetta (La Bohème) and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) with Village Opera and The Opera Next Door, respectively, in addition to performing Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte) with the Metropolitan Opera’s Access Opera program. Upcoming performances include Mozart’s complete Exsultate, jubilate K. 165 at Grace Moravian Church this December.

Additional role credits include Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) with Eugene Opera and the Stuttgart Philharmonic; Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Savannah VOICE Festival and Opera Tampa; Bubikopf (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) with Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings; and Chocholka/Mrs Pásek (Cunning Little Vixen) and Soloist (Cage’s Europeras 3 & 4) at Detroit Opera. On the concert stage, she has soloed in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Wayne State Wind Symphony and Choirs, Mozart’s Requiem and “Vorrei spiegarvi, o dio” with the Midland Symphony Orchestra, and Schubert’s “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen” at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival with clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist Gilles Vonsattel. In addition to singing, Melanie has been heard as a regular panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz broadcast over international radio during Saturday matinées, and she works as a Social Media Manager for Lenny’s Studio, handling channels for several of opera’s top stars.