Stephanie Blythe

Stephanie Blythe (born 1970) is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. She is particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, with whom she has performed annually since her debut with the company in 1995. In 2014 she starred as Gertrude Stein in the world premiere of 27, an opera composed by Ricky Ian Gordon with libretto by Royce Vavrek, and commissioned for her by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Blythe grew up in Mongaup Valley, New York and studied the flute as a child. She graduated from Monticello High School in 1987. While attending Monticello, she was first exposed to live opera when her high school music teacher took her class to the Metropolitan Opera for a matinee of La bohème. She went on to study vocal performance at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam), from which she graduated with a degree in English Writing in 1991 and a degree in Music in 1992.

In 1994 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and then became a member of the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Met.

Blythe made her professional opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera as the Voice from Above in Wagner's Parsifal on April 14, 1995. Her career was transformed the following season when she stood in for Marilyn Horne at the Metropolitan opera as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and received rave reviews. She has subsequently achieved critical success in a variety of roles at the Met, including Amneris in Aida (2012), Auntie in Peter Grimes (1997, 2003), Azucena in Il trovatore (2013), Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress (1998), Berta in The Barber of Seville (1995), Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare (1999), Eduige in Rodelinda (2004-2006, 2011), Fricka in Die Walküre (2008, 2011-2013) and Das Rheingold (2010-2013), Frugola in Il tabarro (2007), Gertrud in Hansel and Gretel (1997, 2001-2002), Jezibaba in Rusalka (2009), Jocasta in Oedipus Rex (2003-2004), Ludmila in The Bartered Bride (1996), Madelon in Andrea Chénier (1996), Mama Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana (1997), Mother Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites (2002-2003), Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice (2009), the Princess in Suor Angelica (2007), Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera (2007-2008, 2012) and Zita in Gianni Schicchi (2007) among other roles.

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