Meet Audrey Babcock

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Genre-bending mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock has captivated audiences worldwide with her mesmerizing performances and versatile vocal and dramatic range, establishing herself as a compelling interpreter in the world of opera. Her exceptional ability to embody character and her passion for craft have earned her a place among the most esteemed vocalists of her generation. Engagements for the 2023-2024 season include her role début as Amneris in Aida and Mrs. Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Utah Festival, Flora in Opera Omaha’s La Traviata, and her début as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana.

Dedicated to contemporary works, Audrey recently débuted the roles of Toledo in Redler/Dye’s new work The Falling and Risingwith Arizona Opera and Opera Carolina, Nica in Yardbirdwith Seattle Opera, and Eva in An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, and she has worked closely with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Ellen Reid and Jorge Sosa. As a producer, writer, and creator, her projects Lily; her life, his music — the story of a queer Jewish heroine who escapes Nazi Germany, told through the music of Kurt Weill — and Beyond Carmen, with flamenco guitarist Andres Vadin, provide audiences an evening of compelling, thought-provoking storytelling with sensational presentation. Additional premieres include Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin (NY premiere — Dicapo Opera), With Blood, With Ink (world premiere — Fort Worth Opera), La Reina (American Lyric Theater and Prototype Festival), The Poe Project (American Lyric Theater), and Winter’s Tale (Prototype Festival), The Poe Project (American Lyric Theater), and Winter’s Tale (Prototype Festival).

An accomplished Carmen with more than 200 performances, Ms. Babcock made her French début in the title role with the Festival Lyrique en Mer and has sung it with Florentine Opera, Nashville Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, San Antonio Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Delaware, Toledo Opera, Anchorage Opera, Dayton Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Utah Festival Opera, of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote “Audrey Babcock's performance as Carmen was a spellbinding tour de force...from the moment she took the stage her self-assured characterization was mesmerizing... Babcock's caramel-hued mezzo was a pleasure... her supple tones caressed the notes, radiating earthy allure.” Engaging beyond singing and acting, Ms. Babcock also works as a movement and breath specialist and a dance and fight choreographer skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as weaponry.

On the concert platform, Ms. Babcock has sung Verdi’s Requiem with Dayton Opera, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with the Salastina Society and Norwalk Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Duruflé Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Mass of Life at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony, Berlioz’s Nuit D'ete with the West Virginia Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony, and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the West Virginia Symphony.

Additional career highlights include Maddalena in Rigoletto with Palm Beach Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Tulsa Opera, Florentine Opera, and Nashville Opera, the title role in María de Buenos Aires (San Diego Opera), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Wolf Trap Opera), Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (Opera Santa Barbara), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (New Orleans Opera), Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (Utah Opera, Shreveport Opera, and Lyric Opera of San Diego), Erika in Vanessa (Sarasota Opera), Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte (Spoleto Festival USA), the Secretary in The Consul (Long Beach Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and New Jersey Opera), Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Opera Santa Barbara and Tulsa Opera), Jo in Little Women (Utah Opera and Syracuse Opera), and Mrs. Mister in The Cradle Will Rock (Opera Saratoga), for which a cast recording was released in 2018.

Ms. Babcock is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory with a BM in Voice and the California Institute of the Arts with an MFA in VoiceArts with concentrations in Producing and Dramaturgy, and she has a certification in Somatic Voice WorkTM the LoVetri Method. She currently serves on the Voice faculty and teaches movement and sound in the Drama department at the California Institute of the Arts, the Musical Theatre faculty at California State University, Fullerton, as well as Voice faculty at California State University, Los Angeles. Ms. Babcock’s numerous awards include “Artist of the Year” for her portrayal of Jo in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Syracuse Opera), the George London Award, the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Award, and the Opera Index and Sullivan Foundation Encouragement Awards. Recording under the name Aviva, she has released an album of Ladino pieces called Songs for Carmen, a collection of works sung in Ladino and Arabic, inspired by the character Carmen.