Claudia Celeste Huckle
Mezzo-soprano
New England First Place Winner,2004	photos
National Council Winner, 2004	review

British mezzo-soprano Claudia Huckle is a 2004 Grand final winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recent graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera.

Engagements this season included Irene in Tamerlano (with Plácido Domingo and David Daniels) 2nd Maid in Elektra, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Zerlina in the Young Artist performance of Don Giovanni. Miss Huckle sang further performances of Zerlina with Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Concert engagements included Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

During the 2006-2007 season she made her Washington National Opera debut as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly conducted by Maestro Plácido Domingo, was seen as Siegrune in Francesca Zambello’s production of Die Walküre (with Plácido Domingo as Sigmund) and covered the role of Karolka in Jenufa. She also performed La Ciesca and Dorabella in the Young Artist performances of Gianni Schicchi and Così fan tutte. Ms. Huckle spent the summer of 2006 as an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera where she sang the Page in Salome, covered Anne-Sofie von Otter as Carmen and the Third Lady in The Magic Flute. She returned to Santa Fe last summer to cover Dorabella in Così fan tutte.

2006-2007 concert performances included Mozart’s Requiem on a US and European tour with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Ms. Huckle performed Handel’s Messiah with the Milwaukee Symphony and the role of Emilia in Rossini’s Otello with Washington Concert Opera. She was also seen as the Slave in a concert performance of Salome with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC and also sang with Sarah Walker in a private recital in the UK.

In the 2005-2006 season she sang Nancy and Mrs Herring in Albert Herring, Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, all for the Curtis Institute Opera Theater. She also performed the role of the Fox in The Little Prince for Boston Lyric Opera and sang Bach’s St. Matthew Passion on a European tour, again under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. During the summer, Ms. Huckle joined the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival where she performed solo song recitals.

Ms. Huckle has also been a recipient of the Sybil Tutton Award, a prize winner at the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and the Sullivan Foundation Competition, and the grand final winner of the Thelma King Award for Singers.

Ms. Huckle studied at the Royal College of Music (Foundation Scholar), New England Conservatory (Presidential Scholar), and the Curtis Institute of Music. Between 2000-2004 she worked as a street musician singing arias in Florence, Venice, Rome and Covent Garden. She is a student of mezzo-soprano Heidi Skok.

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