| Melissa Wimbish |
| Soprano |
| |
|
|
|||
| Soprano and bandleader
Melissa Wimbish is a genre-defying artist known for her ability to move between
opera, art song, Renaissance polyphony, and pop music with alarming ease.
She has premiered works for the stage written especially for her, most notably
in the title role of Josephine by Tom Cipullo when “... the afternoon belonged
to Melissa Wimbish ... Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically
riveting, [she] effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this
one-woman show.” (Washington Post) Ms. Wimbish made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2016 as grand-prize winner of the NATS Artist Award National Competition. Career highlights include the 50th anniversary of Bernstein’s MASS at The Kennedy Center, Alice in the US-premiere of HARRIET by Hilda Paredes at Yellow Barn Music Festival, Mysteries of the Macabre with the Baltimore Symphony, and the role of Nimue in the Helen Hayes Award-winning production of Camelot at Shakespeare Theatre D.C. The young soprano has built a career spanning classical, contemporary, and popular styles. Her self-filmed and self-directed pandemic recital is a showcase of her flexibility and adaptability in all mediums. Ms. Wimbish has premiered dozens of contemporary operatic roles such as Stella-Rondo (Why I Live at the P.O.), Josephine Baker (Josephine), the History Teacher (Paul’s Case), Nancy Tuckerman (Camelot Requiem), and Christine (Lost Childhood). She sang the role of Pamina in the film, Black Flute, set to a new libretto with an all-Black creative team and cast. With Sandbox Percussion Ensemble, she debuted Jessica Meyer’s 20 Minutes of Action, a chamber work inspired by Chanel Miller’s Victim Impact Statement and memoir, Know My Name. In the 2023-24, Ms. Wimbish will debut the roles of Anna in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw. On the concert stage, she will debut as soprano soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass with Bach in Baltimore, Handel’s Messiah with the Baltimore Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and the premiere of Robert Manno’s Portrait of Millay for soprano and orchestra at the 2024 Windham Chamber Music Festival. Proudly based in Baltimore, Ms. Wimbish is lead singer and songwriter for the critically-acclaimed pop duo, Outcalls. The band released their third studio album, Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 in 2022 and mounted a woman-led production of their interdisciplinary stage show, Release the Gowns: A theatrical album at Baltimore’s Voxel Theater. Outcalls was invited to perform at the 45th birthday celebration for Governor Wes Moore at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater and were artists-in-residence at Camden Yards at Oriole’s Park in 2023. Learn more at melissawimbish.com and outcallsband.com. 2/1/24 |