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About
A Grand Finals winner of the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a winner of the 2016 Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation Prize from Opera Theatre of St Louis, and a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, soprano Sydney Mancasola has been praised by the New York Times for her “lovely lyric soprano and radiant high notes.” Ms. Mancasola’s 2017–2018 season sees her return to the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt with roles including Gilda in Rigoletto, the Italian Singer in Capriccio, and First Niece in Peter Grimes. Ms. Mancasola will also return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for her role debut as Violetta in La Traviata, marking the directing debut of Patricia Racette.
The 2016–2017 season saw Ms. Mancasola join the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt with roles including Musetta in La Bohème, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Onoria in Ezio, Fido in a new production of Britten’s Paul Bunyan, and soprano soloist in a new production of Betulia liberata. Ms. Mancasola also made her house and role debut as Gilda in the Jonathan Miller production of Rigoletto at English National Opera, of which The Guardian wrote “her flawless coloratura and dreamy trills [are] one of the evening’s great performances.”
Operatic highlights include her European debut with Komische Oper Berlin as the heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Pamina in the Barrie Kosky production of Die Zauberflöte, and Servilia in a concert performance of La clemenza di Tito. Additional highlights include her company debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Comtesse Adèle in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory and return to the company in the title role of Manon; her return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Lisette in Puccini’s La Rondine; her company debut with Palm Beach Opera as Marie in La fille du régiment and her role debut as Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles with Florida Grand Opera.
Additional roles in Ms. Mancasola’s repertoire include Adele in Die Fledermaus with Brevard Music Center; Cunégonde in Candide with Oberlin Opera Theatre; and Zdenka (cover) in Arabella with Santa Fe Opera. Roles at AVA included Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Despina in Così fan tutte, and Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande.
The concert stage has seen Ms. Mancasola in performance with the San Francisco Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, Eugene Symphony Orchestra for Haydn’s Die Schöpfung conducted by Danail Rachev, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Sun Valley Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, Strauss’s Brentano-Lieder, and Handel’s Messiah with the Santa Fe Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was also featured as a guest soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G and Mozart’s Exultate, Jubilate with the 2012 international music festival Calí de Camara in Colombia.
Honors and awards include Top Prize Winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, 2nd Prize and Audience Favorite at the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, and 1st Prize in the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition. Ms. Mancasola is an alumna of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, where she received the Judith Raskin Memorial Award for Singers, as well as the Gerdine Young Artist program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and the Brevard Music Center.
Ms. Mancasola began her musical training as a classical violinist in her home state of California and went on to study voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree in 2011 and was the recipient of the Margot Bos Standler Scholarship.