About this Artist
STACEY TAPPAN continues to distinguish herself as a world-class musical artist. In recent stellar reviews for her "witty and sexy" Adele in Die Fledermaus with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, she was praised for her "most polished singing…her coloratura bright and well-focused." In 2008, she will make her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto with the Opéra de Lille in France.
Future engagements include a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for multiple roles in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, a cover of Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare and the role of Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff.
Tappan recently sang in the first concert of the Recovered Voices series at the Los Angeles Opera under the baton of James Conlon, subsequently joining Conlon at the Ravinia Festival's Martin Theatre to sing the rarely heard songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky. She has also appeared with the Los Angeles Opera as Virtú and Pallade in L'incoronazione di Poppea and as the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel.
Heralded for her "breakthrough performance" in Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, Tappan also has appeared with Lyric Opera as the Woodbird and Woglinde in Wagner's Ring Cycle, the Charmeuse in Thaïs, the First Esquire in Parsifal, and Papagena in the student matinees of Die Zauberflöte. While with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, she "turned heads throughout operatic America" and "emerged as a real star" as Isis in the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's Lovers and Friends.
Equally outstanding on the concert stage, and one of Symphony magazine's 2005 "Upwardly Musical Artists on the Move," Tappan's future schedule includes Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives with the Springfield Massachusetts Symphony. She has been a featured soloist in Mahler's Second Symphony with the DuPage Symphony Orchestra and has performed Carmina Burana with both the Wichita and Elgin Symphonies. Other Chicago concert highlights include "Bernstein on Broadway" with the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Hugh Wood's Scenes from Comus with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, three performances in the "Stars of Lyric Opera" concert in Grant and Millennium parks and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Ravinia Festival. She portrayed Cunegonde in Candide at the Chicago Cultural Center, later returning in Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges and winning critical acclaim as "the vocal showstopper."
Tappan made her professional debut with Houston Grand Opera as Beth in Little Women, broadcast on PBS' Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine. With the Bangkok Opera, she portrayed Pamina in Die Zauberflöte after singing the title role in Madana, the first opera by a Thai composer. She is featured on the best-selling Thai recording of the Mahajanaka Symphony, a work honoring the King of Thailand. Her operetta roles include Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with the Michigan Opera Theatre, and Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow and Lilli Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate with Chicago's Light Opera Works.
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