Contralto Megan Esther Grey is quickly gaining attention for her “brilliant interpretation(s) and singing” (MD Theatre Guide). In the 2023-2024 season, she portrayed Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon with UNT Opera, joined the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem, performed Pierrot Lunaire with the NOVA ensemble, joined the New York City Ballet for Liebeslieder Walzer, and made her debut with the Phoenix Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.  This season, she made her house and role debut with Painted Sky Opera as the title role in Beeson’s Lizzie Borden. She also joined the Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Unborn 4 and covered Servant 3 in Die Frau ohne Schatten, and will return in the spring to cover Page in Salome.

 

With the Metropolitan Opera, she has covered the roles of Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Dritte Dame in both the holiday adaption and the new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and both Suzuki and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterly. Ms. Grey made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 2019 singing Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and the 2nd Lady in Julie Taymor’s The Magic Flute, and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program from 2018-202o.

 

Ms. Grey recently made her Opera San Jose debut as Emeline in Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff. Other operatic performances include the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with UNT Opera, Emilia in Verdi’s Otello with the UNT Symphony Orchestra, her Washington Concert Opera debut as Mistress Bentson in Lakmé, and cover of Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with Santa Fe Opera. During her three summers with Wolf Trap Opera, she sang Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert, modified performances as Fricka in Die Walküre and as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and a double bill performance as Der Trommler in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Hippocratine in Gluck’s L’île de Merlin, which met critical acclaim: “Megan Esther Grey made quite an impact… using her ample mezzo with considerable technical and expressive flair…Grey sounded like a Wagnerian-in-waiting, her tone steely and secure” (Opera News).

 

On the concert stage, she appeared as the soloist in Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra in 2023. Ms. Grey has performed in multiple recitals in collaboration with pianist Matthew Gemmill. In April of 2021, she was joined by pianist Mark Bilyeu and trombonist Derek Bromme for performances of Libby Larsen’s Mary Cassatt and Dominick Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. This multimedia recital featured paintings by Mary Cassatt, as well as mixed media prints by Mer Brich and an animated script by Alexandra Saulsbury. Grey made her recital debut in the Park Armory Recital Series singing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and selections from Dominick Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. 

 

Distinguished in competition, Ms. Grey was a Grand Finalist in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2018, a winner of Opera Index’s Walter’s Award in 2018, 2nd place winner in 2016’s Classical Singer vocal competition, a 2016 Presser Scholarship recipient, and the 2015 winner of the St. Paul Schubert Club’s annual Scholarship Competition. Ms. Grey participated in the young artist programs at Santa Fe Opera, Merola Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Chautauqua Opera. Originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa, Ms. Grey completed both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the University of Northern Iowa.