Rochelle Bard

Soprano

 

 

Soprano Rochelle Bard has been described

as an ‘exquisite singing actress, brilliant and heart-breaking.’ Ms. Bard performs her second Donizetti queen Maria Stuarda this season, and recently made her debut as Norma with for which critics proclaimed her:

'beautifully constructed and achingly gorgeous delivery, at times soft as a whisper, and at others thrilling in its altitude…she carried off the dramatic

contrast between the grandeur of confident matriarchal strength and the rage of a spurned woman with as much believability as can be wrung out of the role.'

 

The 2016/2017 seasons begins with the ruthless Lady Macbeth in Macbeth in Middlebury, VT, Tosca with MidAtlantic Opera, Micaëla in Carmen in Connecticut, and the ill-fated queen Maria Stuarda in Knoxville.

 

The 2014/15 season included Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux with the Opera Orchestra of New York as the cover for Ms. Mariella Devia, the title role in Norma as well as Leonora in Il Trovatore with Knoxville Opera, and the title role of Tosca in Boston. She performed Violetta in La Traviata twice this season with Shreveport Opera, under the baton of Joe Illick and directed by Bill Florescu, and with the Opera Company of Middlebury.

      

In concert, Ms. Bard performed a concert of arias with the Opera Orchestra of New York and maestro Eve Queler at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and made her mainstage Carnegie Hall debut as the soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C and again as a soloist with MidAtlantic Opera. She has been recognized with prestigious awards and grants from the Classical Singer Competition, Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, George London Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards  (San Francisco and Boston), the Seoul International Competition, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition.  

​

 Ms. Bard's performances also include the four heroines Olympia/ Antonia/ Giulietta/ Stella in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with West Bay Opera, the title role in The Merry Widow with Opera Tampa, Utah Festival Opera, New England Light Opera, Altamura Center for the Arts, and St. Petersburg Opera, Magda in La Rondine with Opera Tampa with Maestro Anton Coppola, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Idaho, West Bay Opera and Opera San Jose, Mary Willis in Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree with Sugar Creek Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Utah Festival Opera, Violetta in La Traviata with Music by the Lake and Opera San Jose, Musetta in La Boheme with Sacramento Opera, Gilda in Rigoletto with Rockland Opera, Opera San Jose and Cape Cod Opera, Micaëla in Carmen with Ash Lawn Opera, and the Foreign Princess in Rusalka with Boston Lyric Opera, for which Opera News deemed her ‘a deliciously evil enchantress.’

 

Previously an Artist in Residence with Opera San José, Ms. Bard performed Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. Ms. Bard was also engaged as a Studio Artist with Baltimore Opera, where she sang Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore, Barbarina and Countess (cover) in Le Nozze di Figaro, and covered Antonia and Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. As a fellow at Tanglewood, she created the role of Juana in the world premiere opera Rage d’Amours, commissioned by the Boston Symphony.

​

As Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, ‘Her voice is rich and engaging, she is a wonder...This Lord and Lady engage each other with a sparkling intimacy that makes their ‘road to hell’ a very exciting one. As Violetta in La Traviata, ‘Bard became Violetta by not only convincing acting, she incorporated the character and her joys and woes into her vocal delivery, much in the way that made Maria Callas a legend.’ In Il Trovatore, ‘Bard brings a genuineness and confidence to the roles she sings, and, in the case of Leonora, an intelligent and complex portrayal of substance. She has a winning combination of natural dramatic ability and captivating coloratura.’

         

A recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Music from her alma mater the College of the Holy Cross, and a Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, Ms. Bard is a sought-after concert artist as well. Recent appearances include the Mozart Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Carmina Burana and the Poulenc Gloria with the New Haven Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th  with the Wilmington Symphony and Cambridge Symphony, the Messiah with the Hartford Symphony, Rachmaninoff Vocalise, Exsultate Jubilate, Lord Nelson Mass, Elijah, Bachianas Brasileiras, Beethoven Mass in C, Coronation Mass and the Brahms Requiem.