Melissa Givens
Soprano
Soprano Melissa Givens has been praised by audiences and critics alike for her “effortless tone and gracious musicality” and her “consistently rewarding” music-making. Melissa is also an extremely versatile artist, regularly performing repertoire from the Baroque era through music of the 21st century. Recent appearances include multiple European performances with the Belgian company Les Ballets C de la B, in a work called Pitié, which incorporates music from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion into a contemporary evening-length dance piece about suffering and loss. In recent seasons she has also sung solos for the Brahms Requiem in various German venues, Mozart’s C-Minor Mass with the Victoria Bach Festival, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with the Fort Worth Symphony, and the roles of Daughter Zion (Handel’s Brockes Passion), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and the title roles in Handel’s Esther and as Mary Magdalene in Handel’s La Resurrezione with Ars Lyrica Houston. In addition to her frequent work with Ars Lyrica, Melissa also performs regularly with the Bach Society of Houston and the Austin-based vocal ensemble Conspirare. Recordings include several discs with Conspirare, a solo compact disc entitled Let the rain kiss you, and her world première performance of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Euridice dall’Inferno on Ars Lyrica’s recent Naxos CD.