A recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Mezzo Soprano Megan Esther Grey hails from Iowa and is quickly becoming gaining attention in roles large and small across the United States. The 2019-2020 season marked large milestones for Megan, including her Metropolitan Opera debut as Kate Pinkerton in the Anthony Minghella production of Madama Butterfly and appearances as 2nd Lady in Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute. In February she made her recital debut in the prestigious Park Armory Recital Series singing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and selections from Dominick Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf.
Summer 2020 brings Megan’s return to Wolf Trap Opera. While her appearance as Carolina in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers was canceled due to COVID-19, her involvement with the opera company during this time is filled with the important work of pioneering ways for artists to safely perform during the Coronavirus pandemic. Megan can be seen in the “Into the Woods” project as Fricka in Die Walküre and as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, which will make their online debuts during Fall of 2020.
Megan’s summer of 2019 saw rave reviews for her debuts at Wolf Trap Opera as The Drummer in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Hippocratine in Gluck’s L’Île de Merlin. Having sung “impressively and with notable flexibility” (Anne Midgette, Washington Post), she was also praised while she “demonstrated remarkable calm while projecting power as the island’s doctor… and she showed some good moves coming down the slide” (Opera Gene). Of her appearance as Der Trommler, Opera News remarked, “…Grey sounded like a Wagnerian-in-waiting, her tone steely and secure.”
Megan has also made a mark on the West Coast as a participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program in summer of 2018. Her voice described as “potent and precise” (SFChronicle), she was also lauded for her performances in the Schwabacher Summer Series, especially as her portrayal of Erika from Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. “The rich-toned mezzo-soprano Megan (Esther) Grey had already shown her merits in the opening scene of Barber’s ‘Vanessa,’ shaping the aria ‘Must the winter come so soon’ with a tender expressivity that would have been harder to come by in isolation” (SFGate.) “Then, against all the preceding histrionics, Grey created a hush in the hall with a sensitive, affecting performance of the aria ‘Must the winter come so soon?’” (San Francisco Chronicle.)
Distinguished in competition, Megan was a Grand Finalist in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions of 2018, a winner of Opera Index’s Walter’s Award in 2018, 2nd place winner in The Classical Singer competition, 2016 Presser Scholarship recipient, and 2015 winner of the St. Paul Schubert Club’s annual scholarship Competition.
Originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa, Megan completed both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the University of Northern Iowa. She began her vocal studies at the age of 16 under the mentorship of Dr. Jean McDonald, who she studied with for both of her degrees at UNI. Originally a cellist, Megan spent most of her undergraduate degree performing in symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles as well as the university’s vocal ensembles. An avid educator, Megan was a graduate teaching assistant in voice during her final year of her MM and is also a registered Suzuki cello instructor for Pretwinkle and cello book one students.