About this Artist

American opera singer Lacey Jo Benter has been lauded by The New York Times as having a “rich, warm tone” while bringing a “broad emotional palette” to the stage. Native to Cedar Rapids, Iowa she recently completed a two-year residency at LA Opera with the Domingo-Colburn Stein Young Artist Program where she debuted in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles. Also at LA Opera, she sang Clotilde in Norma, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Persephone in Morganelli’s Hercules vs Vampires, and the alto solo in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle under the baton of Plácido Domingo. She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with a theater minor from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin before attending the Juilliard School where she received a Master of Music in 2011, followed by an Artist Diploma of Opera Studies in 2014. She appeared with Central City Opera as a Bonfils-Stanton Young Artist and has been a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In 2014 and 2015, she was honored with Encouragement Awards by the Metropolitan Opera National Council. She has appeared with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, returning for several roles in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, which she reprised for her Barbican Hall debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She appeared with John Adams and the LA Phil in the recent performances of his Nixon in China and made her debut with Opera Omaha as “Minskwoman” in their production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight. While most of her roles to date have been as a mezzo-soprano, Lacey Jo is excited by the development of her instrument toward the soprano repertoire of Verdi and Wagner.