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Mezzo soprano, Ashly Evans, originally hails from Omaha, Nebraska but has recently moved to Houston, Texas to start her Doctoral work at the University of Houston Moores School of Music under the tutelage of Ms. Melanie Sonnenberg. Miss Evans started her operatic career studying voice at the University of Missouri Kansas City's Conservatory of Music and received her Bachelors degree in 2005 and her Master's degree in 2007.
Miss Evans will be making her Moores Opera House debut this October in the role of Melibea in Rossini's Il Viaggo a Reims and in the spring as Sharon Falcon in the Houston area premiere of Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry. She will also be singing her first Carmen with the Cypress Creek Foundation for the Arts in Houston, Texas, in mid September.
Miss Evans’ wide range of operatic roles include Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte with New Jersey Opera, Effie Dix in the American Priemere of Jerome Kern’s The Cabaret Girl, Azuri in The Desert Song, Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore and Louisa Hurst in the World Premiere of Pride and Prejudice all with The Ohio Light Opera. She also had the opportunity to sing the roles of Viktoria/Viktooria in the American Premiere of Rautavarra’s House of the Sun and Juno in Orpheus in the Underworld with Opera in the Ozarks.
The mezzo soprano’s 2009 engagements include a reprisal of the role of Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, Parenthis in Hellen of Troy, Ciboletta in A Night in Venice, Nanette in Mlle. Modiste, and Yente in Fiddler on the Roof all with Ohio Light Opera.
Miss Evans performed over eight main stage roles with the University of Missouri at Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance including, Giulio Cesare in Giulio Cesare, Mrs. McLean in Susannah, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel.
Miss Evans made her solo concert debut as the Alto Soloist with Central Missouri State University in their performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C. Miss Evans also has a passion for new music and recently performed at the Electronic Music Midwest conference, premiering a piece composed by Mike McFerron. She is also currently working in collaboration with composer, Ryan Jesperson, and writer, Rebecca Bauman, on a song cycle that Ryan has composed for her. She will be in the studio to record a CD of new music in December 2009.
Miss Evans has been recognized by numerous foundations and organizations including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions with an Encouragement Award in the Upper Midwest Region, Lincoln, NE district, the UMKC Women’s Council and National Association of Teachers of Singing. Her work was also acknowledged by her peers as she was voted Most Outstanding Female Artist and Best Performance by a Female in a Supporting Role during her attendance at Opera in the Ozarks.
You may hear Miss Evans in the Albany Records© recording of Jerome Kern’s The Cabaret Girl, Rudolf Friml’s The Firefly, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and The Mikado, all recorded while a member of the Ohio Light Opera Company.
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