Myra D. Merritt
Voice

Soprano Myra D. Merritt, born in Washington, D.C. is a graduate of The Peabody Conservatory of Music and The Catholic University of America. She has sung in some of the greatest opera houses in the world and has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras and conductors today. Ms. Merritt made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Shepherd Boy in Wagner’s Tannhauser with James Levine, Music Director, conducting. Her subsequent roles at the Met have included Musetta in La Boheme, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann and Bess in Porgy and Bess. She has been featured on several of the “Live from the Met” televised broadcast including the Gala performance of the Metropolitan Opera’s Centennial celebration and subsequently featured in the televised performances of Carmen and L’Italiana in Algeri. She is also heard on Deutsch Grammaphon’s video recording of Georges Bizet’s Carmen live from the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to James Levine, she has worked with such notable conductors as Judius Rudel, Placido Domingo and Sarah Caldwell.

Ms. Merritt has performed in many capitals and cities throughout Europe. In the summer of 2001, she appeared in her first Cavalleria Rusticana as Santuzza in Salerno, Italy. She has also appeared in concert in Helsinki, Moscow, Estonia, Debrecen, and Ekaterinburg and in Italy as part of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. The summers of 1997 and 1998 found her in the Bregenz Music Festival in Bregenz, Austria performing the soprano solo in Mozart’s Mass in C major and the title role of Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Prior European engagements include appearances with the National Opera of Finland, The State Opera in Budapest, Theatre des Westens of Berlin and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the Musikverein.

In Washington, D.C., Ms. Merritt has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra and has worked under Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich. She has also performed at Wolf Trap Farm, Ford’s Theatre, the Smithsonian Museum Concert series and was presented in her debut recital at the Terrace Theatre in the Kennedy Center under the auspices of the Washington Performing Arts Society.

With Houston Grand Opera, Ms. Merritt performed Musetta in La Boheme and Clara and Lily in Porgy and Bess in the company’s production on Broadway. She is heard on the Grammy Award winning RCA CD of that production.

Among her awards are grants from the Ohio Arts Council, the National Opera Institute and Sullivan Foundation and the D.C. Commission of the Arts and Humanities. She was also awarded the Catholic University of America’s outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in the Field of Music. She has been featured in several magazines including Glamour Magazine (an article on outstanding women in classical music) and the Washington View Magazine (focusing on Outstanding African American Women in the Arts). In addition, Ms. Merritt is included in the Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia; Famous African Americans Encyclopedia and most recently a reference book for teachers entitled Educator’s Sourcebook of African American Heritage published in 2000 by Prentice Hall.

Vocal Program
Vocal Program, Faculty