Abigail Mitchell
Soprano
Prize-winner of the 2013 Washington International Competition, American soprano Abigail Mitchell performs vocal works by Debussy, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Richard Strauss. She is joined by pianist Casey Robards.
Artist Images
Program
Prize-winner of the 2013 Washington International Competition, American soprano Abigail Mitchell has recently completed her training at the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music in London on full scholarship. She has appeared both nationally and internationally in operas by Mozart, Offenbach, and Donizetti. Mitchell performs songs by Debussy, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Richard Strauss. She is joined by pianist Casey Robards.
Program
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Cinq poemes de Baudelaire
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Cinq melodies populaires grecques
Mitchell and Robards will perfom further vocal works by Rimsky–Korsakov and Richard Strauss. Full program to be announced.
About the Artist
American Soprano Abigail Mitchell recently came to international attention as the First Prize winner of the 2011 International Vokal Genial Competition, sponsored by the Munich Konzertgesellschaft and the Munich Radio Orchestra. Her other awards include First Prize at the 2011 Concorso Vincenzo Bellini in Sicily and Second Prize at the 2013 Washington International Competition for Singers.
Abigail was a 2013 Apprentice Artist at the Santa Fe Opera, where she covered Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and appeared in the Apprentice Showcase as Donna Anna and Manon in Henze’s Boulevard Solitude. She has been invited to return to Santa Fe in 2014, where her assignments include singing Melody in the family operas Written in the Stars and True North. She also performs in True North on tour in New Mexico and East Texas.
She recently completed her training at the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music, London, where she was the inaugural winner of the Georgina Joshi International Fellowship, provided by the Georgina Joshi Foundation in collaboration with the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. This $100,000 award provides full tuition, living expenses, and funding for cultural experiences for two years. Her roles at the IOS were Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, and Diana in Orpheus in the Underworld. She also appeared externally as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Norina in Don Pasquale with Westminster Opera at the Chateau de Panloy in France, Marzelline in Fidelio with the Oxford Philomusica, and Musetta in a concert performance of La Boheme with the Lambeth Orchestra.
Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma in Voice from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She appeared with the IU Opera Theater as Anna Reich in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and Javotte in Manon. A contemporary music enthusiast, she was heard as Nuria in the collegiate premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, La Secretaria in the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s Unicamente la verdad!, and on the recitals of IU Faculty composers David Dzubay and Donald Freund. She was also selected by IU Professor Carmen Tellez to represent IU as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana at the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil. She supplemented her education at IU with study at the Bel Canto Institute in Italy and at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, where she appeared as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.
While still completing her studies at the Jacobs School, Mitchell made her professional debut as Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos with Indianapolis Opera in 2009. She was a member of the 2010 Indianapolis Opera Ensemble, performing in extensive concert and outreach events throughout the region. She was also featured in the Ensemble’s Pasticchio Scenes Program, where she was seen as Adina, Baby Doe, Donna Anna, Gilda, Sophie, and Susanna.
Mitchell’s major teachers are Eiddwen Harrhy, Carol Vaness, and Patricia Wise.
At home in a broad variety of musical genres, Casey Robards is a pianist and vocal coach known for her versatility, sensitive musicality and expert collaborative skill. Dr. Robards has given collaborative recitals with singers and instrumentalists throughout the United States, as well as France, Brazil, and Costa Rica.