Critically acclaimed American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop has performed on opera stages and concert halls across the world, including San Francisco Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Dallas Opera, Atlanta Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Bach Opera, and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy. Recent career highlights include her return to The Metropolitan Opera as Marcellina in their celebrated new production of Le nozze di Figaro, Herodias in Salome with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Madame de la Heltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon at Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the spring of 2023, Ms. Bishop appeared in the role of Brigitta in a new production of Die Tote Stadt with Opera Colorado. Future seasons will include her return to The Metropolitan Opera.
Over the years, Ms. Bishop has maintained a long relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, tracing back to winning the National Council Auditions in 1993. She has appeared as the title role in Iphigenie en Tauride, Fricka in Die Walküre, Second Norn and Waltraute in Götterdämerung, Teresa in La sonnambula, Enrichetta in I puritani, Fenena in Nabucco, Venus in Tannhäuser, and Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites. She has recently appeared in productions of Les Troyens, Das Rheingold, and War and Peace. Other notable credits include Fricka with Lyric Opera Chicago and Washington National Opera, as well as joining San Francisco Opera for their Ring Cycle.
Notably, Ms. Bishop was featured in a recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Other past successes include her debut at Florida Grand Opera as Herodias in Salome, Mary in Die fliegende Holländer with Cincinnati Opera, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Donald Runnicles and again at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Verdi’s Requiem with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde in concert at North Carolina Opera.
Back home in Washington D.C., Ms. Bishop has collaborated frequently with Washington Concert Opera, where she performed the Principessa in Adriana Lecouvreur, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana and Sara in Roberto Devereux. She also regularly appears at Washington National Opera, having bowed as Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolda, Second Norn in Götterdämerung, Meg Page in Falstaff, Gertrude in Hamlet, Eboli in Don Carlo, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Emilia in Otello, and the leading role of Marquise de Merteuil in Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons, amongst others.
A former Adler Fellow and member of the Merola Opera Program, Ms. Bishop returned to San Francisco Opera to sing as Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Mother in Harvey Milk (recorded for Teldec), Antonia’s Mother in Les Contes d’Hoffman, and Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. With LA Opera, she was featured as Frau Marthe Rull in Der zerbrochenne Krug, Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, and Amneris in Aida - a role she reprised with Atlanta Opera and in concert with Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other credits include Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible with Mobile Opera, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung at Dallas Opera, and Offred in the North American premiere of Poul Ruders's The Handmaid’s Tale with Minnesota Opera.
A frequent presence on the concert stage, Ms. Bishop’s highlights include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano and The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. She has performed Mahler’s Second, Third, and Eighth Symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Wagner’s compositions including Wesendonck Lieder, Liebestod from Tristan und Isolda, and Magdalene in Der Meistersinger. She regularly is invited to sing Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Te Deum, and Les nuits d’été, in addition to Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Requiem, and Mass in C Minor. Further concert work includes Bach’s Magnificat, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Lobgesang, Handel’s Messiah, Duruflé’s Requiem, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Cantaloube’s Songs of the Auvergne, and Liegeti and Verdi’s Requiem.
She has appeared with Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands. Ms. Bishop is featured on recordings with San Francisco Opera and Atlanta Symphony, and won a Grammy for The Metropolitan Opera’s Ring Cycle in 2012.
