about MAIRE Therese
biography
BIOGRAPHY.
American mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack, Third Prize winner at the Operalia World Opera Competition, has been praised by Opera News for her "deep mezzo and vibrant metallic timbre" and for "taking focus by her very presence." A recent graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, Maire Therese’s 25/26 season features role debuts with houses including Semperoper Dresden (La Baronessa di Champigny in Il cappello di paglia di Firenze) and Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Waltraute in Die Walküre).
Recent highlights include Maire Therese Carmack’s critically acclaimed debut with Houston Grand Opera as Dodo McNeill in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves. She has also made notable debuts with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera.
A committed interpreter of contemporary opera, Maire Therese has premiered multiple new works, including the role of Prima Donna in Philip Blackburn’s multimedia hyper-opera The Sun Palace, later adapted into a 60-minute indie film that premiered at New York’s Anthology Film Archives. She also appeared as a soloist in the world premiere of M. Butterfly 蝴蝶君 by David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo with Santa Fe Opera, and created the role of Mezzosopran in Arne Gieshoff and Franziska Angerer’s Bär*in at Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Tischlerei. At Deutsche Oper, she also performed Der Missmut in Rued Langgaard’s rarely staged Antikrist, released digitally in collaboration with NAXOS.
Her broader operatic repertoire at Deutsche Oper Berlin and beyond includes Carmen/Mercédès (Carmen), Princess Eboli (Don Carlo), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Fenena (Nabucco), Dulcinée (Don Quichotte), Maddalena (Rigoletto), The Page (Salome), Second Lady/Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Juno (Semele), Witch/Mother (Hänsel und Gretel), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Ottavia (L’incoronazione di Poppea), and Baroness Nica (Charlie Parker’s Yardbird).
a beautiful
sound filled with
attractive charm.
In concert, Maire Therese has appeared as Marguerite in Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust with the Santa Fe Symphony, and as alto soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Oregon Bach Festival, San Antonio Philharmonic, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She also performed Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the UF Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and will soon debut Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles with the Menlo Festival.
Maire Therese is the winner of the Björn Eklund Scholarship from The Opera Foundation, first prize winner of the Gerda Lissner Lieder and Song Competition, winner of Opera Index's Felix Popper Award, two-time grant recipient from The Olga Forrai Foundation for Dramatic Voices, and second prize winner of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. Maire Therese holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature (with honors) from the Eastman School of Music, as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Philosophy and Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.