Melinda Whittington, Soprano
The Salt Lake Tribune praises Melinda Whittington for her “performances of emotional resonance along with their powerhouse vocals.” Last season, Melinda made her role debut as Mimì in Minnesota Opera’s new production of Puccini's La bohème and sang her first Verdi Requiem with the Charlotte Symphony. In describing Melinda’s performance of Mimì, Broadway World says “Whittington’s vocals are so rich and full that she has no problem filling the theater with her glorious voice,” and the Star Tribune says she “could blow your hair back with her electrifying high notes.”
This fall she returned to one of the roles for which she is most well-known, singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Greensboro Opera. She also sang the soprano solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Charlotte Symphony and appeared in concert with Andrea Bocelli, joining him for duets from Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut. This spring she revisits the roles of Mimì and Micaëla with her home company, Opera Carolina. As Micaëla, CVNC says “each of Whittington’s plaintive arias in the first three acts is a gem, wafting an anthemic lyricism…”
Other roles Melinda has sung with Opera Carolina include Violetta in La traviata, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the Coming Home Soldier in Redler and Dye’s The Falling and the Rising, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for both its 2022 and 2019 productions of Akhnaten, as well as the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its recent production of Eugene Onegin.
Among the soprano’s other recent performances are debuts with Arizona Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and a return for the title role of Rusalka, Utah Opera for Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Charlottesville Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and North Carolina Opera as Ada in Higdon’s Cold Mountain and Nedda in Pagliacci. She has sung Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids, and Kentucky Opera; the title role of Arabella with Pittsburgh Festival Opera; Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Birmingham and Penascola Opera; Micaëla in Carmen with Greensboro Opera; and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Green Mountain Opera. She sang Micaëla in Carmen and Marie Antoinette in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles as a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera and subsequently returned to the company for a birthday concert celebration honoring the composer.
In 2013, Melinda was one of twenty national semi-finalists in the now Laffont Competition, formerly the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Her other competition winnings include first place in the Opera Birmingham competition, third place in Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, first place in the Opera Guild of Charlotte Competition, twice, and an encouragement award in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition.
Ms. Whittington is a former Resident Artist of the Academy of Vocal Arts, where she sang Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and joined Opera Philadelphia for an exciting evening of new opera with their composers in residence, Lembit Beecher and Missy Mazzoli. She is also 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 Le jolie fille de 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.
In addition to pursuing her operatic career, Melinda is an avid recitalist and recently self-produced an album of art song entitled Night and Day. She is also a skilled and experienced performer and teacher of both classical and contemporary vocal styles. Melinda serves as an adjunct professor of voice at Davidson College and maintains a thriving private studio. Her most important role is being mom to two little boys, Isaac and Simon, and wife to husband, Dr. Philip Bugaiski. Melinda is currently between managers, and actively seeking representation. Until further notice, please direct all inquiries directly to her.