Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

With her Verdi roles praised as “loving and sensitive, fierce and provocative, raw but generous” (Le Soir) and “fully nuanced … alternately sensuously cooing in warm, honeyed tones and soaring regally … spellbinding and dramatically compelling” (Baltimore Sun), Ann McMahon Quintero’s 2015/16 season included her Asian debut with Musica Viva Hong Kong as Azucena in Il trovatore. She will also return to the role of Mistress Quickly in Falstaff with Opera Delaware. The 2014/15 season included her debut performances of Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera with Austin Lyric Opera and performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Buffalo Philharmonic, under JoAnn Falletta. The season also included several performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the Defiant Requiem Foundation conducted by Murry Sidlin, including at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Ms. Quintero also toured Poland as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Boston Baroque, with whom future collaborations include Cornelia in Giulio Cesare.

The artist’s 2013/14 season included her debut with Virginia Opera as Mistress Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff and soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in a return to Boston Baroque. In the 2012-13 season, she made her debut with the Spoleto Festival (USA) as Suor Pazienza in Giordano’s Mese Mariano, returned to Boston Lyric Opera to sing Mary in Der fliegende Holländer, and sang Amneris in Aida with Annapolis Opera. Previous highlights include Azucena in Il trovatore with Opéra Royal de Wallonie; Mistress Quickly in Falstaff with Opéra de Lausanne; the Old Lady in Candide with Portland Opera; and “Mulier Samaritana” in the Virginia Arts Festival’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, under JoAnn Falletta.

Other engagements included performances of Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Boston Lyric Opera; soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with the Cathedral Choral Society at Washington National Cathedral; Auntie in Peter Grimes, Tisbe in Cinderella, and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center; and Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C Minor with Boston Baroque. She also sang at the National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors Inaugural Awards Concert.

Ms. Quintero made her international operatic debut with New Israeli Opera as La Haine in Gluck’s Armide and returned to the company as Marquise Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims. She also sang Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress with Angers Nantes Opera and joined Teatro alla Scala for its production of Maazel’s 1984. She joined Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Olga Olsen in Street Scene and the company’s production of Hänsel und Gretel; Palm Beach Opera as Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, and Toledo Opera as Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette. With Santa Fe Opera, she sang Glaša in Kátya Kabanová as well as Teresa in La sonnambula. 

An accomplished oratorio soloist, Ms. Quintero has appeared frequently with Boston Baroque where her performances have included the title role in Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans, soloist in Messiah, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She has also sung Messiah with Charlotte and Alabama symphony orchestras and the National Philharmonic; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Columbus Symphony; Haydn's Paukenmesseat Carnegie Hall; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Britten’s Spring Symphony with the Berkshire Choral Festival; and a concert performance of Guillaume Tell with Opera Orchestra of New York.

Ms. Quintero is a 2006 winner of the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation as well as the second place winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition. In 2005, she received both the George London Award and Sullivan Foundation Award and was a semi-finalist in Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition in Madrid. She was a 2002 Grand National Finalist in the prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her first appearance on the company's stage in the Grand Finals Concert under the direction of Maestro Julius Rudel.