Known for her lustrous voice, sensitive interpretations, and captivating stage presence, mezzo-soprano Ellen Graham is committed to connecting with audiences through the magic of live performance. Drawn to adventurous projects, her free-ranging credits include everything from Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appetit (singing the role of Julia Child in a demonstration kitchen), to performing arias in a circus-inspired micro-brewery and offering vocal jazz on a 1940’s dinner train with the Queen City Sisters.

As a soloist, Ellen has performed with the Amarillo Symphony (TX), the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (OH), and at the Bellingham Festival of Music (WA). In addition to performing traditional oratorio repertoire, she’s also sung Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrender gesellen with the Central Ohio Symphony.  More recently, with acclaimed organist David Briggs, Ellen performed his transcription of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 for organ and soloists.

Performing socially relevant works such as Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepherd and this season’s Mass for the Endangered by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Ellen has been a member of the professional choral Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati since 2014.

Other recent projects include a period-instrument performance of Handel’s Messiah at Duke Chapel in North Carolina; as well as Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles and Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road with the Vocal Arts Ensemble in Cincinnati.

Ms. Graham’s operatic credits reflect her flare for comedic roles, including Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos at Cincinnati Opera, Thisbe in La Cenerentola at Queen City Opera, and Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, which she recorded with Albany Records. Other favorite roles include Meg Page in Falstaff and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte.

With the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, Ellen has performed in over 25 productions ranging from Eugene Onegin and Aida, to A Flowering Tree (Adams) and Another Brick in the Wall (Bilodeau).

An active teaching artist, Ellen holds a doctorate from the University of Kentucky and is on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music.