Edith Dowd

Edith Dowd is a true contralto, with all of the richness of sound that that word implies. She has the versatility and flexibility of technique and sound to sustain the roles that require utilizing the lower part of her range while still maintaining the integrity and color for the most upper reaches in the mezzo/alto roles.

From 2001 through 2011, she was seen in a variety of roles at New York City Opera including Sousa’s The Glass Blowers, Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, Verdi’s La Traviata, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica, Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer as well as Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Rossini’s Ermione. She appeared in productions of Daphne, La Traviata and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. She covered the role of Kleonike in Adamo’s Lysistrata.

She also has made a number of guest appearances with companies including Gertrude in Hansel und Gretel, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance for Sacramento Opera, Maddalena in Rigoletto for Chattanooga Opera, Mama McCort in Intermountain Opera’s production of the Ballad of Baby Doe among others. Dowd made her debut in Germany performing at the acclaimed Operngala of the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg Festival singing Azucena’s aria from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, excerpts from Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess and as the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel.

She has sung the title role in Carmen a number of times, most recently for Pacific Repertory Opera and appeared in that role at the Belleayre Music Festival. She gave her first performance of Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto with The American Opera Theatre at the National Theater in Taipei, Taiwan, and sang that same role at the Belleayre Music Festival. Her debut with Les Amis du Lyrique en Bretagne was in the production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. At Nashville Opera, she was engaged to sing the role of Hansel in Hansel und Gretel and for Chattanooga Opera she appeared as Count Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus.

Dowd was blessed early in her professional career with two exceptional career options: first to be selected as part of the Merola Opera program through the San Francisco Opera and then as an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera for two consecutive seasons. At Santa Fe, she appeared as the second maid in Richard Strauss’ Elektra followed by Lucy Lockit in John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera. She was invited to sing the role of Juno in Handel’s Semele at the Spoleto (Italy) Festival and appeared as Madame Flora in an Italian translation of Menotti’s The Medium directed by the composer in Palermo, Italy.

In the symphonic world, Dowd has performed Bach’s Magnificat with Bozeman Symphony, Copland’s In the Beginning and Mozart’s Requiem both with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall and Handel’s Messiah with Phoenix Symphony. She has also been heard in Resphigi’s Il Tramonto, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and as Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.

Edith Dowd is a native of Tennessee. She received her undergraduate training at San Francisco State University and her graduate work at the prestigious Curtis Institute. While there, she was heard in the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, as Mme de Croissy in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmelites, Dame Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, Marta in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and in the role of Madame Flora in a production of The Medium directed by Ben Levitt.

Honors and awards include the Ellen Faull Gordon competition, finalist in both the Pacific and Northeast regional Metropolitan Opera auditions, and multiple grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation.