Soprano
Lyric coloratura soprano Evelyn Pollock is a prominent rising artist in both America and Europe. Having performed over 40 diverse leading roles, Ms. Pollock’s repertory continues to expand. Future roles include Amina in La Sonnambula, Adele in Fledermaus, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and the title role in Massenet's Manon.
In the 2009-2010 season Ms. Pollock sang Madame Silberklang in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor as a double bill with John Cage's aleatoric Theater Piece. She then traveled to Valencia, Spain to record the role of Isabella in Frederic Chaslin's new opera Wuthering Heights with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. In October, she took on the premiere of David Alden's production of Medea in Corinto (Mayr), in which she plays the princess Creusa. This project will be released as a CD on the Oehms Classics label. Thereafter she joined the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen as the Soprano Soloist for performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony in conjunction with his Op. 118 Elegischer Gesang. The new year bought Ms. Pollock and her husband, tenor Derek Taylor, to Hawaii Opera Theater where they sang the roles of Musetta and Rodolfo in La bohème. Their return to Switzerland found them together once again in Verdi's Alzira with the Theater St. Gallen; singing the roles of Alzira and Zamoro, respectively. In June, Ms. Pollock performs in a chamber music concert of the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen's Sonntags um 5 Concert Series -- On the program are Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with clarinet / piano and John Harbison's The Rewaking with string quartet. The season finishes with her debut with the St. Galler Festspiele as the heroine Sela in Donizetti's Il Diluvio Universale.
The 2008-2009 season included two operas in which Ms. Pollock and her husband sang opposite each other: as Violetta and Alfredo in La Traviata and as Valencienne and Camille in Die Lustige Witwe. Her season opened with a rarely performed Haydn opera, Il Mondo della Luna, in which she sang the role of Clarice with the Theater St. Gallen. La Traviata then followed in October, and Die Lustige Witwe in December. Ms. Pollock returned to America in February for her debut with the Florida Grand Opera as the title role in Delibes' Lakmé. The 2008-2009 opera season rounded out with her first R. Strauss role, as Zdenka in Arabella. In the fall of 2007 she made her European debut in St. Gallen, Switzerland, thrilling audiences and critics in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. In October, she rejoined Michigan Opera Theater as one of the creators of the role of Roxane in David Di Chiera's World Premiere opera Cyrano. Ms. Pollock then returned to St. Gallen to sing her first Micaëla in Carmen, after which she reappeared with the Opera Company of Philadelphia to perform Roxane in the East Coast premiere of Cyrano. To finish the season, she appeared as Ännchen in Der Freischütz with the Stadttheater St. Gallen.
Performances for the busy 2006-2007 season began with Musetta at the Kentucky Opera. Reported by Opera News: “Evelyn Pollock's brilliantly sung Musetta ignited the stage, 'working the room' like a pro, rejoicing in life, but exhibiting a tenderness brought out by the ebullient staging." In January, she performed Ännchen in Der Freischütz at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. She then made her soloist debut in Carnegie Hall singing both versions of Mozart's Regina Coeli and Schubert's Mass in G. In February she returned to Palm Beach Opera for Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri, and then made her Opera Company Philadelphia debut as Nannetta in Falstaff. Thereafter she sang her first Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Michigan Opera Theater. Her 2005-2006 season included performances of six debut roles: Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Norina in Don Pasquale with the Palm Beach Opera, Woglinde in Das Rheingold, Ellen (cover) in Lakmé with the Opera Orchestra of New York, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Tulsa Opera. During the summer, she returned to the Wolf Trap Festival to essay the role of Cephisa in Telemann's unique tri-lingual opera Orpheus.
The summer of 2005 marked her debut at the Wolf Trap Festival, where she sang a "gently shimmering...unusually affecting " Zerlina (Opera News) in Don Giovanni and Clorinda in La Cenerentola; additionally, she performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and in The Latest Word Song Recital with Steven Blier. Miss Pollock recently made her Santa Fe Opera debut in 2004 as Lisa in La Sonnambula. 2003-2004 was a busy season, adding six new roles to Ms. Pollock’s repertoire. As a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist, she earned rave reviews for her “crystalline voiced” Gilda in Rigoletto, “displaying the ideal combination of sweetness and vocal athleticism” (Pioneer Press). Opera News declared her “ideally ardent and attractive as Clara” in Sondheim’s Passion, while The Wall Street Journal commended, “the beautiful Clara [was] sung with affecting voluptuousness by soprano Evelyn Pollock.” Then, due to a last minute cancellation, Miss Pollock “took over and delivered an outstanding performance” (On the Purple Circuit) in the title role of Lucrezia Borgia opposite Bruce Ford’s Gennaro. In addition to her main stage role as First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Ms. Pollock rounded out her tenure singing Pamina and Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia for Minnesota Opera Studio productions.
In past seasons, Ms. Pollock has also sung with the Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera, the Western Opera Theatre Tour, the Colorado Symphony, Central City Opera, and the Accademia Verdiana in Busseto, Italy. She received her training from the Academy of Vocal Arts, Indiana University in Bloomington, and Northwestern University. Her concert credits include soloist appearances in Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Copland’s In the Beginning, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach’s B Minor Mass. She has also been heard in the opera broadcasts of Minnesota Public Radio and WRTI Philadelphia, and featured in a weeklong Opera News web diary. A native of Chicago, Ms. Pollock is a District and Regional Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a second Place Winner of the Opera Index Competition and the Mario Lanza Competition, a Grand Prize Winner of the Bel Canto Foundation and the National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, and an Audience Favorite in the Travel Grant Competitions. She is a two-time Sara Tucker Grant Finalist, a National Semi-finalist of the Macallister Awards, and a major award winner of the Loren L. Zachary Competition.
INTERMEZZO ARTISTS MANAGEMENT For more information contact Filippo Anselmi at 212-531-1514, filippo@intermezzofoundation.org Mitchell Piper at 860-255-7618, mitchell@intermezzofoundation.org |