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 Oneginand 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.
REPERTOIRE
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opera | musical theatre | concert + choral | art song + chamber
OPERA ROLES
Adamo
Little Women (Cecilia March)
Baber
River of Time (Aunt Sairy - World Premier)
Gounod
Faust (Siebel)
Handel
Giulio Cesare (Cesare)
Hoiby
Bon Appetit (Julia Child)
Humperdinck
Hansel and Gretel (Hansel, partial)
Menotti
Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mother)
Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino)
Cosi fan tutte (Dorabella)
Rossini
La Cenerentola (Tisbe)
Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos (Dryad)
Strauss Jr.
Die Fledermaus (Orlofsky)
Sullivan
Pirates of Penzance (Ruth, partial)
Verdi
Falstaff (Meg Page)
Wagner
Siegfried (Erda)
MUSICAL THEATRE
Phantom of the Opera (Madame Giry)
Mikado (Katisha, cover)
A Chorus Line (Sheila)
No, No, Nanette (Sue Smith)
West Side Story (Anybodys)
CONCERT + CHORAL
Bach
Cantata 106
Christmas Oratorio
Mass in B Minor
St. John Passion
St. Matthew Passion
Beethoven
Missa Solemnis
Symphony No. 9
Handel
Israel in Egypt
Messiah
Haydn
Missa in angustiis (Nelson Mass)
Johnson
Considering Matthew Shepard
Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen
Symphony No. 2
Mozart
Mass in C
Requiem
Skeirik
13th & Republic (world-premiere)
Smith
Canticle
Vivaldi
Gloria
Music of Venetian Ospedali
ART SONG + CHAMBER
Hector Berlioz Les Nuits d’Eté
Johannes Brahms Zwei Gesange
Peter Maxwell Davies Miss Donnithorn’s Maggot
Claude Debussy Chanson de Bilitis
Hanns Eisler Anakreontishe Fragmente
John Greer The House of Tomorrow
G.F. Handel Dolc’é pur d’amor l’affano, HWV109b
Jake Heggie Deepest Desire
Of Gods and Cats
Gustav Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Francis Poulenc Banalités
Sergei Rachmaninoff Selections from Op. 26, 15 Songs
Maurice Ravel Shéhérazade
Ottorino Respighi Il Tramonto
Gioachino Rossini La Regata Veneziana
P.I.Tchaikovsky Five Duets