About

"Beaming soprano" - Logan Martell, Operawire

Praised for her "beaming soprano" by Operawire, Melanie Spector is a soprano on the rise who was born and raised in New York City, and now based in Detroit where she is a Resident Artist at Detroit Opera. In a cast headlined by Angel Blue and Christine Goerke, she made her Detroit Opera debut last season as the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida, in which she was praised for her "exceptional ability to nail pitch", "supreme cleanliness of her sound", and "commitment to operatic excellence". Most recently, Melanie made her role debut as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Savannah OPERA as part of the 2023 Savannah VOICE Festival. In the fall, she returns to Detroit Opera to begin her second season as a Detroit Opera Resident Artist. As part of her tenure with the company, she will perform as Fiordiligi in the Act I Finale of Così fan tutte in Arias & Overtures with the Detroit Opera Orchestra under Music Director Roberto Kalb; as a soloist in Cage's Europeras 3&4 directed by the revolutionary and world-renowned Yuval Sharon; and as Chocholka (Hen) and Mrs. Páskova in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen.

During the 2022-23 season, Melanie was a first-year Resident Artist at Detroit Opera where she performed often with the company, as well as with several other organizations around metro-Detroit and the state of Michigan. At Detroit Opera, her schedule included covering Atalanta in Handel's Xerxes and Margarita Xirgu in the Detroit premiere of Golijov's Ainadamar, as well as singing the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida. In recital with Detroit Opera, she performed Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 in addition to a large variety of art song repertoire. With the Midland Symphony Orchestra, she performed Mozart’s “Vorrei spiegarvi, o dio” K. 418 and Requiem, and she soloed in Orff's Carmina Burana at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with the Wayne State University Wind Symphony and Chorus. To finish off her first season in Detroit, Melanie performed the role of Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte in a collaboration between Detroit Opera and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.

In the 2021-22 season, Melanie performed Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with several organizations including Eugene Opera, where she "knocked it out of the park" ; the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Access Opera Tour; and the Stuttgart Philharmonic under the direction of Dan Ettinger as part of the second annual Internationale Opernwerkstatt Waiblingen: A new, full-scholarship program created and directed by renowned baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Melanie Diener. She also appeared at the Miami Music Festival Wagner Institute as Woglinde in Wagner's Das Rheingold, and performed Schubert's "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival with renowned clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist Gilles Vonsattel.

Melanie has received awards from several organizations for her vocal prowess, including the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (District Winner/Region Finalist 2021, 2022), the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the SAS Performing Arts Company, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Camille Coloratura Awards, and the Tuesday Musicale of Detroit.

Other full role credits include Sister Constance (Dialogues of the Carmelites) and Musetta cover (La Bohème) at Savannah VOICE Festival; Nannetta cover (Falstaff) with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance program; La Fée (Cendrillon) and Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) at Manhattan School of Music; Dahlia in the world premiere of Sunden’s Great Moments in Human History with The Opera Next Door; and Madame Herz (The Impresario) with the International Vocal Arts Institute Outreach. Partial roles include Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) with the Midland Symphony Orchestra; Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Violetta (La Traviata), and Gilda (Rigoletto) with the Queens Symphony Orchestra; Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) with the Metropolitan Opera Guild; Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Lakmé (Lakmé), and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) with the VOICExperience Foundation; and Semiramide (Semiramide) with the International Vocal Arts Institute.

Melanie holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, where she was a recipient of the President's Award (merit-based scholarship) and the Provost's Award for Academic Excellence. In addition to singing, Melanie has been heard as a regular panelist on the Toll Brothers Metropolitan Opera Quiz during Saturday matinées.

Last Updated: July 19, 2023

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