Melissa Thorburn
Mezzo Soprano
New England First Place Winner, 1982

American Mezzo-Soprano Melissa Thorburn, a first prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera New England Regional Auditions, has been engaged by such distinguished organizations as the Metropolitan Opera, the National Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, as well as being a featured soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra for five consecutive seasons. Ms. Thorburn's European debut was as Siebel at the Deutsche Opera Berlin in a new production of Faust conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and she has also worked with such conductors as Gerard Schwarz, Rihard Hickox, Roger Norrington, John Currie, and William Smith.

Recent and forthcoming engagements have included Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 (Lobgesang) with the Utah and Vancouver Symphonies, Handel's Messiah with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (Spain), J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Wichita Symphony, and Suzuki in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Greater Buffalo Opera, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream under the baton of Charles Dutoit at the Mann Music Center and with the St. Louis Symphony, Bizet's Carmen with the Kalamazoo Symphony, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Bach Winter Park Festival, Haydn's Mass in Time of War with the Charleston Symphony, David Stahl conducting, Mozart's Great Mass in c minor with the Canterbury Choral Society, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier with the Portland, Maine Symphony. In addition she was engaged for concerts with the Bermuda Festival and a recital for the Friends of Vienna in Buffalo and she debuted with the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival in the Christmas Oratorio, Cantata No. 78, and Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

A natuve of Illinois, Ms. Thorburn began her career as a pianist, receiving a degree from Louisiana State University, and continuing her studies with Yvonne Lefebure in Paris on grants from the French and American governments. She completed a Master of Music degree in voice at the New England Conservatory and subsequently began private study with Phyllis Curtin.

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