Elizabeth DeShong

Mezzo Soprano Elizabeth DeShong has performed with Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera and Ballet, Oper Stuttgart, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Glyndebourne Festival, Santa Fe Opera, and Aix-en-Provence. Symphony orchestras with whom she has performed include Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Cincinnati Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Royal Flemish Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Houston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, The English Concert, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.  Her roles include Handel (Bradamante in Alcina, Sesto in Alcina, Juno and Ino in Semele), Verdi (Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Azucena in Il Trovatore), Wagner (Fricka in Das Rheingold), Rossini (Calbo in Maometto II, Arsace in Semiramide, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Rosina in Barber of Seville), Puccini (Suzuki in Madama Butterfly), Mercadante (Odoardo Douglas in Il Proscritto), Tchaikovsky (Polina in Pique Dame), Bellini (Adalgisa in Norma), Mozart (Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito), Humperdick (Hänsel), Britten (Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

Ms. DeShong was the recipient of Washington National Opera’s “Artist of the Year” award in 2010 (the Composer in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos). On DVD she can be seen as Suzuki in Royal Opera's production of Madama Butterfly on Opus Arte, Hermia in Metropolitan Opera’s pastiche opera The Enchanted Island (Virgin), Suzuki in Glyndebourne Opera production of Madama Butterfly, and as Maffio Orsini in San Francisco Opera’s production of Lucrezia Borgia (EuroArts Music and Naxos of America). Her recording of Handel’s Messiah with Toronto Symphony (dir.Sir Andrew Davis) was released by Chandos and nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018. Recent recordings include Handel’s Alcina (Marc Minkowski) and Les Musiciens du Louvre (Pentatone) and Meyerbeer's Le Prophète (Live from Festival d’Aix-en-Provence) (Sir Mark Elder) and London Symphony Orchestra.