Heidi Melton
Assistant Professor, Voice
Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 East Iliff Ave. Denver, CO 80208
Professional Biography
Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano Heidi Melton has been called “the Wagnerian voice we have been waiting for since Flagstad and Nilsson” (La Presse), with a voice that is “big, gleaming and tonally resplendent” (San Francisco Chronicle). Especially well known for her interpretation of Wagnerian heroines, Ms. Melton has sung at the Bayreuther Festspiel (Sieglinde), Metropolitan Opera (Third Norn), San Francisco Opera (Sieglinde, Third Norn), BBC Proms (Elisabeth), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Sieglinde, Third Norn, Gutrune, Elsa, Elisabeth and Venus), Canadian Opera Company (Sieglinde), Seattle Opera (Isolde), Mariinsky Theater, (Isolde), English National Opera (Isolde), Houston Grand Opera (Gutrune and Third Norn), Les Palau des Arts (Sieglinde), Badisches Staatstheater (Brünnhilde, Sieglinde, Third Norn, Gutrune, Elsa, Elisabeth, Venus) and with the Vienna Philharmonic (Brünnhilde), New York Philharmonic (Sieglinde and Brünnhilde), Stockholm Philharmonic (Sieglinde and Isolde), Dallas Symphony (Brünnhilde and Sieglinde), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Sieglinde), Baltimore Symphony (Sieglinde), Montreal Symphony (Sieglinde), New World Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic (Sieglinde and Brünnhilde) and has worked with such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Donald Runnicles, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Valery Gergiev, Kiril Petrenko, Karina Cannellakis, Alan Gilbert, Jaap van Zweden, and Patrick Summers.
Outside of the Wagnerian world, Ms. Melton also enjoys singing Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg and Ligeti, among other composers. The role of Mescalina in Ligeti’s Grand Macabre has taken Heidi on a concert tour with the Berlin Philharmonic led by Sir Simon Rattle and directed by Peter Sellars, the London Symphony Orchestra also with Sir Simon Rattle, a production with the Hamburg Philharmonic led by Alan Gilbert and a concert version at the Concertgebouw led by James Gaffigan.
Ms. Melton can be found on recordings of Götterdämmerung with the Metropolitan Opera (Decca), as Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Brünnhilde in Siegfried with the Hong Kong Philharmonic (Naxos), Eine Lebesmesse by Jan van Gilse with the Radio Filhamonisch Orkest, and in a solo recital or Wagnerian Arias and Excerpts with the Orchestra National Bordeaux Aquitaine.
Alongside her appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Lamont School of Music, Ms. Melton has lent her passion for education and advocacy in the arts to positions as a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, Artist in residence at Carleton University, faculty on a variety of summer programs including UBC Summer Vocal Workshop, New Opera Intensive (a joint program with Against the Grain and the University of Toronto), and Bay Area Vocal Academy among others. Ms. Melton has led various masterclasses, most notably for NATS and for The INSTIGATORS, a ground breaking program at the San Francisco Opera which aims to infuse the rich but at-old art from of opera with new thinking and perspectives. Ms. Melton proudly shares her expertise with Turn The Spotlight, a foundation working to identify, nurture, and empower leaders – and in turn, to illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. Turn The Spotlight offers mentorship by and for exceptional women, people of color, and members of other equity-seeking groups in the arts.
Outside of the Wagnerian world, Ms. Melton also enjoys singing Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg and Ligeti, among other composers. The role of Mescalina in Ligeti’s Grand Macabre has taken Heidi on a concert tour with the Berlin Philharmonic led by Sir Simon Rattle and directed by Peter Sellars, the London Symphony Orchestra also with Sir Simon Rattle, a production with the Hamburg Philharmonic led by Alan Gilbert and a concert version at the Concertgebouw led by James Gaffigan.
Ms. Melton can be found on recordings of Götterdämmerung with the Metropolitan Opera (Decca), as Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Brünnhilde in Siegfried with the Hong Kong Philharmonic (Naxos), Eine Lebesmesse by Jan van Gilse with the Radio Filhamonisch Orkest, and in a solo recital or Wagnerian Arias and Excerpts with the Orchestra National Bordeaux Aquitaine.
Alongside her appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Lamont School of Music, Ms. Melton has lent her passion for education and advocacy in the arts to positions as a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, Artist in residence at Carleton University, faculty on a variety of summer programs including UBC Summer Vocal Workshop, New Opera Intensive (a joint program with Against the Grain and the University of Toronto), and Bay Area Vocal Academy among others. Ms. Melton has led various masterclasses, most notably for NATS and for The INSTIGATORS, a ground breaking program at the San Francisco Opera which aims to infuse the rich but at-old art from of opera with new thinking and perspectives. Ms. Melton proudly shares her expertise with Turn The Spotlight, a foundation working to identify, nurture, and empower leaders – and in turn, to illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. Turn The Spotlight offers mentorship by and for exceptional women, people of color, and members of other equity-seeking groups in the arts.
Degree(s)
- MM, Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, 2007
- BM, Vocal Performance , Eastman School of Music, 2004
