Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

The Philadelphia Inquirer hails Melinda Whittington as "especially marvelous in handling the rapturous jail scene music” in recent performances of Marguerite in Faust. In the 2016/17 season, she returns to Arizona Opera for the title role in Rusalka in addition to joining Utah Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Greensboro Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Eugene Onegin.

Last season, she made debuts with Arizona Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Ash Lawn Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Kentucky Opera as the Contessa in The Marriage of Figaro. She also joined the Charlotte Symphony for excerpts of Roméo et Juliette, was presented by Opera Birmingham in a solo recital, and joined the Ocean City Pops in concert.

Ms. Whittington is a former Resident Artist of the Academy of Vocal Arts, at which she sang Marguerite in Faust and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She sang Marie Antoinette in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Micaëla in Carmen during her two summers at Wolf Trap Opera. Also while a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, she presented a recital in collaboration with the Phillips Collection, pairing art songs and popular songs with art from the museum. Her other previous performances include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Green Mountain Opera Festival and Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Carolina. Her operatic repertoire also includes Violetta in La traviata, the title role in Alcina, Mimì in La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and Marie in The Bartered Bride. She recently joined Opera Philadelphia for an exciting evening of new opera with Opera Philadelphia and their composers in residence, Lembit Beecher and Missy Mazzoli. On the concert stage, she has sung Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Sinfonia and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Back Bay Chorale.

She is the 2016 third place winner in Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, 2015 first place winner of the Opera Birmingham competition, a 2013 semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, winner of the Charlotte Opera Guild Competition, and an encouragement award winner in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. She is a former participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program in association with San Francisco Opera at which she performed scenes as the title role in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Barber’s Vanessa, and Bizet’s The Fair Maid of Perth. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.