Noted for the richness of her voice and for the radiance of her stage presence, American mezzo-soprano Leah Summers is ideally suited to bel canto, Strauss and Wagner roles, while simultaneously possessing the flexibility to deliver the florid music of Handel, Mozart and Rossini. Ms. Summers was a Fulbright Scholar in Vienna, Austria. She is also the recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Grant and a graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center.
Recent notable performances include: Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte with Opera Colorado, Sara in matinee performances of Roberto Devereux with Dallas Opera, and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with Opera New Jersey.
Additionally, Ms. Summers has made appearances at the New York City Opera in the roles of Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Melina in Deborah Drattel’s Central Park (the middle work of a world-premiere operatic trilogy), Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and Pitti-Sing in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado. She has also bowed as Cherubino with Pittsburgh Opera and as Romeo in Capuleti e i Montecchi with Berkshire Opera. Ms. Summers has enjoyed multiple appearances with the Vienna Staatsoper, including Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, the Page in Salome, and Grimgerde in Die Walküre. With Opera Orchestra of New York, Ms. Summers has sung Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia and Teresa in La Sonnambula.
Equally at home on the concert stage, Ms. Summers has appeared as soloist in Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under its artistic director Andrew Litton (in performances recorded LIVE by Delos), in Bach’s Mass in b minor with the New York Chamber Orchestra and conductor Gerard Schwarz; in Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne with the Richmond Symphony and conductor George Manahan and The Messiah with the Summit Choral Society at the Summit Presbyterian Church in New Jersey; in Mozart’s Mass in c minor with the Ensemble Musica Sacra at the Kollegienkirche in Salzburg, Austria; finally, in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra under its artistic director Grant Cooper and in 5 Rückert Lieder with the Mödling Symphony Orchestra in Vienna, Austria. As a recitalist she has performed songs of Samuel Barber with the New York Festival of Song and pianist Steven Blier, as well as several lieder recitals in the Sacellum summer series in Salzburg, Austria.
