Michelle DeYoung
Encyclopedia
Michelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts. Raised in Colorado and California, DeYoung is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera
's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. She won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
in 1992 and has been a regular performer at the Met ever since. In 1995 she was the recipient of the Marian Anderson Award. In 2009 she completed her Bachelor's Degree (that she had to put on hold after going to The Met's Young Artist Program) in Music from California State University Northridge. In May 2010 the University honored her with a Doctorate in Fine Arts for her contributions to the music industry. Past recipients include Michael Eisner, and Carol Vaness.
Early on in her career DeYoung sang with Glimmerglass Opera
and the Wolf Trap Opera, two companies devoted to fostering the careers and talents of young opera singers. The mezzo-soprano has since performed in leading roles on the stages of many of the world's best opera houses and opera festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera-New York City, the Bayreuth Festival
, the Berlin State Opera
, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
, the Houston Grand Opera
, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Opéra National de Paris, the Salzburg Festival
, the Seattle Opera
, and the Théâtre du Châtelet
. She has enjoyed particular success in portraying Wagnerian roles like Fricka, Sieglinde and Waltraute in The Ring Cycle, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde
, Kundry in Parsifal
, and Venus in Tannhäuser
. Some of her other stage roles include Gertrude in Hamlet
, Jocaste in Oedipus Rex, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle
, Marguerite in Le Damnation de Faust, and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia. Outside the Wagner roles she has become the premiere Judith in Bluebeard's Castle. She has performed this role with Conductor James Levine at Tanglewood
, and Conductor/Composer Pierre Boulez at the Barbican
in London, and also with The Cleveland Orchestra
. She also performed the role in Salzburg. The role of Judith is one of the most taxing for a mezzo as it goes all the way up to a high C. Michelle's range as a singer is three octaves. She also portrayed the role of the Shaman in the world premiere of Tan Dun
's The First Emperor
at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21, 2006. Ms. Deyoung is also a favorite singer for newer composers like John Adams and Elliot Carter, having premiered several pieces.
In 2008 DeYoung made her debut at La Scala
as Brangäne, a performance which was recorded live for release on DVD. She also sang the role of Didon in the 2-time Grammy Award
winning recording of Hector Berlioz
's Les Troyens
under the baton of Sir Colin Davis in 2001. She also recorded a solo album, Songs, which was released on the EMI label in 1999. Her discography also includes a number of works from the concert repertoire, including Gustav Mahler
's Symphony No. 3 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony
, Leonard Bernstein
's first two symphonies with Leonard Slatkin
and the BBC Orchestra, and the Grammy Award winning recording of John Corigliano
's Symphony Number 1 with Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra
among others. The 2003 Mahler Symphony No.3 recording with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony won Michelle her third Grammy award in the Best Classical Album Award.
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. She won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and...
in 1992 and has been a regular performer at the Met ever since. In 1995 she was the recipient of the Marian Anderson Award. In 2009 she completed her Bachelor's Degree (that she had to put on hold after going to The Met's Young Artist Program) in Music from California State University Northridge. In May 2010 the University honored her with a Doctorate in Fine Arts for her contributions to the music industry. Past recipients include Michael Eisner, and Carol Vaness.
Early on in her career DeYoung sang with Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Festival is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States.The summer-only season usually consists of four operas performed in...
and the Wolf Trap Opera, two companies devoted to fostering the careers and talents of young opera singers. The mezzo-soprano has since performed in leading roles on the stages of many of the world's best opera houses and opera festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera-New York City, the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
, the Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
, the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Opéra National de Paris, the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
, the Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
, and the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
. She has enjoyed particular success in portraying Wagnerian roles like Fricka, Sieglinde and Waltraute in The Ring Cycle, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, Kundry in Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, and Venus in Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
. Some of her other stage roles include Gertrude in Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
, Jocaste in Oedipus Rex, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle
Bluebeard's Castle
Duke Bluebeard's Castle is a one-act opera by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The libretto was written by Béla Balázs, a poet and friend of the composer. It is in Hungarian, based on the French fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault...
, Marguerite in Le Damnation de Faust, and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia. Outside the Wagner roles she has become the premiere Judith in Bluebeard's Castle. She has performed this role with Conductor James Levine at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, and Conductor/Composer Pierre Boulez at the Barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
in London, and also with The Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
. She also performed the role in Salzburg. The role of Judith is one of the most taxing for a mezzo as it goes all the way up to a high C. Michelle's range as a singer is three octaves. She also portrayed the role of the Shaman in the world premiere of Tan Dun
Tan Dun
Tan Dun is a Chinese contemporary classical composer, most widely known for his scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.-Early life in China:...
's The First Emperor
The First Emperor
The First Emperor is an opera in two acts with a libretto written in English by Tan Dun and Ha Jin, and music by Tan Dun. The opera received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center in New York City on 21 December 2006, conducted by the composer and with Plácido Domingo in the...
at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21, 2006. Ms. Deyoung is also a favorite singer for newer composers like John Adams and Elliot Carter, having premiered several pieces.
In 2008 DeYoung made her debut at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
as Brangäne, a performance which was recorded live for release on DVD. She also sang the role of Didon in the 2-time Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winning recording of Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
under the baton of Sir Colin Davis in 2001. She also recorded a solo album, Songs, which was released on the EMI label in 1999. Her discography also includes a number of works from the concert repertoire, including Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Symphony No. 3 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's first two symphonies with Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
and the BBC Orchestra, and the Grammy Award winning recording of John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
's Symphony Number 1 with Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra
National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra , founded in 1931, is an American symphony orchestra that performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.-History:...
among others. The 2003 Mahler Symphony No.3 recording with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony won Michelle her third Grammy award in the Best Classical Album Award.
Sources
- Cummings, David (ed.), "DeYoung, Michelle", International Who's Who in Classical Music, Routledge, 2003, p. 191. ISBN 185743174X
- Metropolitan Opera, http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/gisrch2k.r?Term=DeYoung,%20Michelle%20%5BMezzo%20Soprano%5D&limit=5000&vsrchtype=no&xBranch=ALL&xmtype=&Start=&End=&theterm=D%65%59o%75ng,%20Mich%65ll%65%20%5BM%65zzo%20Sop%72ano%5D&srt=&x=0&xHome=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/bibpro.htm&xHomePath=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/DeYoung, Michelle (Mezzo Soprano)], performance record on the MetOpera Database
External links
- Official web site
- Interview with Michelle DeYoung by Bruce Duffie, July 27, 2000