About

DAWN PADULA, mezzo-soprano, has been lauded as being “velvety voiced” by the San Antonio Express News and as having a “dark and lovely” voice by the American Record Guide. She has performed many of the major mezzo-soprano roles, including the title role in Carmen, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Erika in Vanessa, the Gingerbread Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Meg in Falstaff, Mercedes in Carmen, Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur, and The Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Loma Williams in Cold Sassy Tree, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Vera in Gene Murray’s The Wage of Sin (recorded for educational television), Marchesa Melibea in Il Viaggio a Reims, Ragonde in Le Comte Ory, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas. She has performed with Tacoma Opera, Kitsap Opera, Opera in the Heights, Opera Pacifica, The Living Opera and the Concert Opera of Seattle, among others. The Newport Classics label has released her performance as Bellino in Casanova’s Homecoming with the Moores Opera Center. Dr. Padula also created the role of Hagga for the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ The Thirteen Clocks for the Moores Opera Center (also recorded for commercial release). For the Houston Grand Opera, Dr. Padula sang the role of Sappho in a reading and recording session of Mark Adamo’s newest opera, Lysistrata, as well as participating in a recording of scenes from Daniel Catan’s Salsipuedes, for their New Music Week.

Her concert repertoire includes solo work in Durufle’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and Judas Maccabeus, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Solemn Vespers, and Coronation Mass, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Schubert’s Ständchen, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Choral Fantasy and Symphony No. 9, Honnegger’s King David, Bach’s Magnificat, Bernstein’s Chicester Psalms, Copland’s In the Beginning, and Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War. She has appeared as a soloist with several leading performance organizations in Texas and the Pacific Northwest, including the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Bach Choir, the Houston Masterworks Chorus, the Portland Symphonic Choir, the Houston Chamber Choir, the Alamo City Men’s Chorale, the Sons of Orpheus Men’s Ensemble, CANTARE Houston, Mercury Baroque, the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra, the Men’s Consort of Houston, the Symphony North of Houston, the Black Note Ensemble, the Bay Area Chorus, and the Foundation for Modern Music. With Ars Lyrica Houston, she has portrayed the roles of both Tempo and Disinganno in the American premiere of the 1737 version of Handel’s oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo é delle Veritá, the role of Phoebus in Bach’s BWV 201, a soloist in Jacquet de la Guerre’s Jepthe, as well as the title role of Cain in Scarlatti’s Il Primo Omicidio Overo. She performed as the Alto Soloist in Penderecki’s Credo with the Houston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Jahja Ling of the San Diego Symphony. Also notable performing as the Alto Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem in Cleveland’s famed Severance Hall to commemorate Kent State University’s Centennial Celebration.

Dr. Padula joined the University of Puget Sound School of Music faculty in 2009-2010 as Director of Vocal Studies and the Opera Theater. She holds both a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Trinity University, a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Houston Moores School of Music with a degree in vocal performance and a concentration in vocal pedagogy and voice science. There, she focused in her dissertation on pedagogical issues concerning registration negotiation of the male voice. She has also served on the voice faculties of the University of Houston Moores School of Music in Houston, TX, Sam Houston State University’s School of Music in Huntsville, TX, and the Interharmony International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy.

Music

Opera (arias for mezzo-soprano), art songs (Italian art songs, German Lieder, French Chanson, English repertoire, contemporary composers), oratorio (Handel, Bach), musical theatre selections, jazz standards.

Videos

Audio

Past groupmuses (1)