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 offering vocal jazz on a 1940’s dinner train with the Queen City Sisters.

Ellen’s concert work spans the Baroque to the early 20th century, including Handel’s Messiah, the major oratorios of J.S. Bach and masterworks such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and Duruflé’s Requiem. She has performed with orchestras nationally, including the Amarillo Symphony, the Bellingham Festival of Music and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Operatic credits reflect Ellen’s 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.

For a decade, Ellen was a member of the Vocal Arts Ensemble (VAE), under the direction of GRAMMY-award winning conductor, Craig Hella Johnson. During that time she performed masterworks of the choral repertoire alongside socially relevant works such as Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepherd, Kile Smith’s Arc in the Sky and Mass for the Endangered by Sarah Kirkland Snider. She is a featured soloist on VAE’s 2018 recording of Kile Smith’s Canticle.

A versatile artist, Graham's repertoire extends beyond the classical stage into jazz and musical theater. She is a member of the Queen City Sisters, a dynamic vocal trio that specializes in the popular music of the 1940s through the 1960s. Her musical theater credits include standout performances as Madame Giry in The Phantom of the Opera and Anybodys in West Side Story. A sensitive interpreter of song, her cabaret programs have delighted audiences around the country.

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.