American mezzo soprano Claire McCahan has been applauded for her rich tone and dedication to character and expression in operatic and concert performances. Her recent operatic credits include the American premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Renegade Opera), Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Boulder Opera), Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the title role in Handel’s Ariodante, Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Prince Orlofsky in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Eklund Opera), and Camille Claudel in a staged interpretation of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Camille Claudel: Into the Fire (Opera Steamboat). She appears frequently as a soloist with the Boulder Bach Festival, and has also performed regionally with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Cantabile Ensemble, St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, and the Rocky Mountain Chorale.
Ms. McCahan is the winner of the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards and was featured at the 2022 NATS National Conference in Chicago. She is also the winner of the 2020 World of Bach Competition and the 2020 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition. She received the 2019 Frances MacEachron Award from the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition in New York, and the 2018 Career Advancement Award from Opera of the Rockies.
An avid performer of contemporary works, she workshopped the role of Brittomara in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s If I Were You with the CU New Opera Workshop and has premiered works with the Pendulum New Music series. She performed with Jónsi & Alex Summer’s at their Denver performance of the Riceboy Sleeps 10th anniversary album tour and contributed vocals to the soundtrack of Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems. Ms. McCahan also worked in collaboration with with NEST Studio for the Arts on an interdisciplinary fellowship combining music, visual art, and geology, and as teaching artist and composer with the Colorado Lullaby Project in conjunction with Carnegie Hall.
Ms. McCahan will spend summer 2022 as a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. She has additionally held fellowships at SongFest and CoOperative.
Ms. McCahan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, and master’s degree and artist diploma from the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied under mezzo soprano Abigail Nims.