Teresa Buchholz, mezzo-soprano

Biography
An accomplished artist, known for her colorful, clear voice and thoughtful interpretation, Teresa Buchholz is emerging as a promising mezzo-soprano in the world of singing. After a successful solo debut with The Bard Music Festival last summer, Teresa will be returning to the festival this August for a performance of Brahms duets (Op. 20 and 61). Other upcoming performances for the 2009-2010 season include solo engagements with The Berkshire Bach Society (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio), and The East Texas Symphony (Handel’s Messiah), as well as opera roles with Teatro Grattacielo at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theatre (Serena in Wolf-Ferrari’s I Gioielli della Madonna) and with the Duke Symphony (Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte).

Teresa’s recent performances include the second soprano solos in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the AmorArtis orchestra in Norwalk, CT, as well as solo recitals at Messiah College in Pennsylvania and St. Bartholomew’s Church in NYC. Summer ‘08 marked her debut with Summer Opera Theatre in Washington DC as Carmen, where The Washington Times hailed her as “an outstanding Carmen, singing accurately and expressively while charging her character with a smoldering sexuality.” Following that, her performance of Prokofiev arias for the Bard Music Festival was noted in the festival’s overall review in the New York Times. Last year she also debuted with Asheville Lyric Opera and The Opera Company of North Carolina as Alisa in a shared production of Lucia di Lammermoor. In April ’08 she returned to The Duke Symphony Orchestra for the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, where her Cherubino in La Nozze di Figaro was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim in ’06, and following that in May of ‘08 she returned to the Berkshire Bach society for the role of Orfeo in a semi-staged performance of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

Past engagements include Flora in La Traviata and Curra in La Forza del Destino with Connecticut Grand Opera as well as numerous roles with Light Opera Oklahoma including Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera, the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, Phoebe in Yeoman of the Guard, and most recently her first La Pèrichole in which she gave a “solidly comic performance” as the title character. Other roles include Dorabella, Prince Orlofsky, Cenerentola and Mélisande.

An experienced oratorio soloist, Teresa’s most recent appearances have been with the Bard College Symphonic Chorus as Maria in Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity and at Lincoln Center with the American Symphony Orchestra in Franz Schreker’s opera Der ferne Klang and Schumann’s oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri. She has been featured in performances of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Durufle’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem. She has also appeared frequently with the Berkshire Bach society, where her appearances have included Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, J. S. Bach’s Magnificat and Cantata BWV 82 (Ich habe genug). Other notable performances have included Mozart’s c minor Mass and J. S. Bach’s Mass in b minor, both with the Chorus and Orchestra of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church of New York City, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the New York Collegiate Chorale. In making her Lincoln Center debut, Teresa was featured with the American Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Leon Botstein in a one-act opera by Paul Hindemith entitled Das Nusch-Nuschi.

In addition to her live performances, Teresa can also be heard on a number of recordings. She was a soloist with the Cincinnati May Festival in the world premiere performance of Franz Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus which was conducted by James Conlon and recorded and released by Telarc. Miss Buchholz can also be heard with the American Symphony Orchestra in the role of the Third Elf in Richard Strauss’s Äegyptische Helena, also recorded and released by the Telarc label.

A graduate of the Yale University Opera Program, Indiana University, and the University of Northern Iowa, Teresa has been delighted to have spent several summers as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the Natchez Opera.