Jo Ellen Miller - voice
A soprano who is "an American artist at home in many vocabularies," (Chicago Sun-Times), Jo Ellen Miller is a versatile performer known for her "lovely, rounded tone" (New York Times) in her work as both a classical singer and an interpreter of contemporary works. She was recently led by James Levine as the soprano soloist with the Met Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, singing Pierre Boulez' Improvisations sur Mallarmé, and was asked by Levine to return in 2011 to sing Lukas Foss' Time Cycle. In 2009, she made her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut as the soloist in Elliott Carter's A Mirror on Which to Dwell, conducted by Boulez himself. Miss Miller has sung extensive amounts of contemporary works at Tanglewood Music Center, Ravinia Festival, the Library of Congress, Harvard College, Columbia University, the 92nd St. YMCA, and the Tenri Institute in NYC.
A singing actress with a long resume of classical roles, Miss Miller has sung Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Micaela in Carmen at Opera North, Giannetta in L'Elisir d'amore with Sarasota Opera, Gretel with Fargo-Moorehead Opera, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Dell'arte Opera, conducted by Chris Fecteau. She covered Mimi at Virginia Opera, Gilda, Musetta, and Lisette in La Rondine at Sarasota Opera, and Susanna with Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Other roles include Susanna and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Edith in Pirates of Penzance, Suor Genovieffa, Dorine in Kirke Mecham's Tartuffe, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi.
Miss Miller's solo concert performances include Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Carnegie Hall, Mahler's 4th Symphony with Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Jonathan Schiffman), Handel's Messiah and Fauré's Requiem with Monmouth Civic Chorus (conducted by Mark Shapiro), Charles Wuorinen's A Winter's Tale (conducted by Wuorinen himself), and a featured solo performance with the Boston Pops, under the baton of Keith Lockhart. Additionally, she has been a featured soloist with Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, NJ Youth Orchestra, and Mark Morris Dance Group.
A two-time winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society scholarship, a 2nd place prize from the National Opera Association and recipient of the Grace B. Jackson Award for Vocal Fellows at Tanglewood, Miss Miller completed her training at University of Michigan- Ann Arbor and Carnegie Mellon University. She has studied with Mildred Miller, Martha Sheil, and currently Sally Wolf.
