"A formidable display of vocal power and dramatic assurance,” mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel is highly sought-out on major stages. The 2026–2027 season brings a dynamic slate of engagements for Ms. Nansteel, including Emilia in Verdi’s Otello at The Metropolitan Opera, Marthe in Gounod’s Faust and Mrs. McLean in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with Houston Grand Opera, and Azucena in Verdi’s Il trovatore with the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.
The 2025–2026 season featured a series of notable engagements, including a return to The Metropolitan Opera as Teresa in La sonnambula; a house debut with Minnesota Opera in the world premiere of B.E. Boykin and Harrison David Rivers’ My Name Is Florence; a return to North Carolina Opera as Azucena in Il trovatore; the Omniscient Seashell in Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena at Bard SummerScape; and Mrs. Miller in Douglas J. Cuomo’s Doubt with Opera Parallèle. On the concert stage, she made her San Juan Symphony debut as the featured soloist in Elgar’s The Music Makers and returned to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.
Ms. Nansteel created the role of civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer in White Snake Project’s world premiere production of Is This America? She also joined the Chicago Opera Theater to sing the role of civil rights pioneer JoAnn Robinson in the world premiere of Jasmine Barnes and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton's She Who Dared. In addition, Ms. Nansteel made her house debut with Opera Colorado as Azucena, returned to Dayton Opera as Amneris in Aida, and returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to perform Baba in The Rake’s Progress and Mama Cordero in the world premiere of Derek Bermel and Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street.
Nansteel recently had house debuts with Los Angeles Opera as Aunt Lou in Highway 1, USA and The Atlanta Opera as Roßweiße in Die Walküre. She also performed the roles of Azucena in Il trovatore with Opera Santa Barbara and Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel with Opera San Antonio. As a concert soloist, Nansteel was seen with the Utah Symphony in performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and act three of Wozzeck, she joined the American Symphony Orchestra as the Israelitish Man in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus under Mo. Leon Botstein, and she appeared in the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s Fire and Blue Sky commissioned by Russell Thomas for Los Angeles Opera.
Previous engagements included a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Annina in La traviata and for their concert tour of Otello, and her house debut with San Francisco Opera in their productions of Eugene Onegin and Dialogues des Carmélites. Nansteel also debuted the role of Amneris in Aida for both Opera Grand Rapids and Finger Lakes Opera, performed Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel for New Orleans Opera, appeared as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem for Orchestra Iowa, and performed the role of Mother Abbess in Suor Angelica for Opera Omaha.
She made her debut with The Metropolitan Opera as Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, her Carnegie Hall debut in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and her New York Philharmonic debut alongside Eric Owens in In Their Footsteps: Great African American Singers and Their Legacy. She performed the role of Mother in the world premiere of Blind Injustice with Cincinnati Opera and participated in Glimmerglass Opera Festival’s digital production of Jungle Book as Raksha.
Since her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she has returned for Nabucco, Il Trovatore, as Siegrune in Die Walküre, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She originated the role of Lucinda in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s adaptation of Charles Frazier’s thrilling novel Cold Mountain at Santa Fe Opera. Other notable engagements include Granma in The Grapes of Wrath with Michigan Opera Theatre, a reprisal of the role of Lucinda in Cold Mountain with North Carolina Opera, the role of Grace in The Summer King with Michigan Opera Theatre, Second Lady in The Magic Flute with the Pacific Symphony, The Mother in The Consul with Opera Saratoga, Jake Heggie’s The Work at Hand for the Mainly Mozart Festival, Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Elvira Griffiths in An American Tragedy, and Mary in Der fliegende Holländer with Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Berta in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program.
Ms. Nansteel completed the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, where she performed many roles including Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Curra (cover Preziosilla) in La forza del destino, Paula (cover) in Florencia en el Amazonas, as part of a world-premiere performance of Douglas Pew and Dara Weinberg’s new opera Penny, as well as The Cat in Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me. As a mainstage artist, Nansteel returned there as Flora in La traviata, Dame Marthe in Faust, which she also performed at Dayton Opera, as Emilia in Otello, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, and as the Marquise of Berkenfield in La fille du regiment with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which is featured in the documentary film RBG.
Sought after for her performances on the concert stage, Ms. Nansteel has performed Händel’s Messiah with the Memphis Symphony and Charleston Symphony; John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs with the Oregon Mozart Players; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Seattle Symphony and Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico in Milan under the baton of Maestro Xian Zhang; the role of Brigitta in Bard Music Festival’s Die tote Stadt in concert; and various additional concerts including Stravinsky’s Les noces, Penderecki’s Credo, and Israel and Egypt.
A house favorite of Seattle Opera, Ms. Nansteel made her main stage debut as La suora infermiera in Suor Angelica, sang Juno and Ino in Semele, and Foreign Woman in The Consul. As a former member of Seattle Opera’s young artist program, she sang Giulietta in Un giorno di regno and Maddalena in Rigoletto. Ms. Nansteel is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where she earned an Artist Diploma in Opera and a Master of Music in Voice. She also received Bachelor of Music degrees in both Vocal Performance and Vocal Jazz Studies from East Carolina University.
