Lisa Agazzi                     photo by Nick Granito

BIOGRAPHY

American Mezzo-Soprano Lisa Agazzi has been critically praised as "dramatically viable" and "dark-voiced."

Ms. Agazzi recently made her Michigan Opera Theatre debut singing Mercedes in Carmen at the Detroit Opera House for their 2009 opera season.  Just before her debut, she gave a concert accompanied by the Warren Symphony Orchestra (David Daniels, Conductor) which included arias from Carmen, Samson and Delilah and The Barber of Seville as well as the Berlioz song-cycle Les Nuits d'Ete at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts.

The 2007-2008 season saw Ms. Agazzi singing two very different roles:  Fyodor and Adalgisa.  Fyodor was sung opposite Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto in San Diego Opera's 2007 production of Boris Godunov.  And she sang Adalgisa in Norma in West Palm Beach for the South Florida Opera. 

During the 2005-2006 season, Ms. Agazzi made her San Diego Opera debut singing Mercédès in Carmen and the Third Lady in The Magic Flute.  She also sang Zita in Gianni Schicchi and was the mezzo-soprano soloist in Rossini's Stabat Mater, both with the Verdi Opera Theatre of Michigan 

The 2004-2005 season saw Ms. Agazzi in Detroit as the featured soloist in a solo Christmas concert with the Warren Symphony.  She also made her debut with the South Florida Opera as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, while maintaining an active concert schedule that included performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts. 

During the 2002-2003 season, she traveled to Riva del Garda, Italy, where she won the Borsa di Studio Award in the Riccardo Zandonai International Competition for Young Opera Singers.  While in Italy, she covered Carmen and sang Mercédès in a concert version of Carmen with the Musica Riva Festival Orchestra.  Upon her return to the US, Ms. Agazzi won the San Diego District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as the Audience Choice Award.  As a member of the San Diego Opera Ensemble, she toured southern California and Mexico singing Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Carmen in an educational work entitled OperaQuest and numerous concerts where she was featured in arias and duets.

In 2001-2002, Ms. Agazzi toured the Western United States with the Utah Opera Studio singing the title role in Rossini's Cinderella.  She also sang Mercédès in Carmen and Mrs. Segstrom in A Little Night Music on the mainstage with the Utah Opera.  During the summer of 2001 she was a young artist with the Pine Mountain Music Festival where she sang the role of Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and Briida in the world premiere of The Children of the Keweenaw. 

Just out of graduate school in 2000, she was selected to be the mezzo-soprano young artist of the Indianapolis Opera Ensemble where she made her operatic main stage debut singing the roles of Meg and Samantha in The Ballad of Baby Doe with the Indianapolis Opera.  She also toured the Midwestern United States with the Indianapolis Opera Ensemble singing the title role in Pinocchio, an opera written for elementary school audiences, seen by over 30,000 students.

While still a student, Ms. Agazzi made her professional stage debut as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the 1999 Friedrich Schorr Memorial Performance Prize in Voice.  Later that year, she also sang Flora in La Traviata with Dorian Opera Theatre in Iowa and Sharon Graham in Masterclass with the New Studio Company of Detroit.

Ms. Agazzi studies voice with soprano Edith Diggory, D. Mus., who was a pupil of Margaret Harshaw at Indiana University.   Lisa attended Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan where she earned both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with an emphasis on Vocal Performance.  She was twice the recipient of the Outstanding Student in Vocal Performance Award at Oakland as well as twice the winner of the David Daniels Concerto Competition.