Mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chavez is one of the most important emerging young American artists today. She is known for a luscious and velvety tone that transcends classification with its rich evenness in the lower registers and the easy ripeness at the top.
Her striking presence on the stage is enhanced by a natural physical beauty and by a dramatic intensity and sincerity seldom achieved on the operatic stage.
Because of this, she is gaining acclaim as one of the definitive Carmens of the day (New York City Opera, Tokyo City Opera, as well as in Omaha, Kentucky, Wichita and Evansville).
Meanwhile, her natural sensuality also lends itself remarkably well to a host of pants roles (woman singing part of young man), including her favorites: Octavian, in The Knight of the Rose, and Cherubino, The Marriage of Figaro. She is also looking forward to her coming Met debut as Hortense in Tobias Picker's world premiere of the opera An American Tragedy in the fall of 2005.
Chavez is equally comfortable on the concert stage, and has rendered dramatic performances of works such as Handel's Messiah, Verdi's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, and the Magnificat of J. S. Bach.
Chavez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but spent most of her growing-up years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she graduated from the high school where her parents worked as teachers of English and Music.
She then went on to receive a Bachelor of Music degree, with Honors, from New Mexico State University, and a Master of Music degree, in Performance, and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.
After beginning an Artistic Residency with the Orlando Opera, Chavez went on to become a winner in several major international competitions, including those of the Sullivan Foundation, the George London Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Opera Index Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (National Finalist).
(China Daily May 19, 2004)
