Cecelia Smith Popular Books

Cecelia Smith Biography & Facts

Cecelia Hall (born c. 1985) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. A native of North Carolina, Hall trained as a singer at DePaul University and the Juilliard School before becoming a member of the young artist programs at the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her European debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2014 and in 2016 she became a resident artist at Oper Frankfurt; a position she remains in as of 2024. She continues to perform as a guest artist in operas and concerts with other organizations internationally. She has performed leading roles in the mezzo-soprano repertoire including title roles, both women such as Purcell's Dido, Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires, and men including Cavalli's Eliogabalo, Handel's Ariodante, Serse and Teseo, Mozart's Ascanio in Alba and Humperdinck's Hänsel. Early life, education, and beginning career in the United States Hall was raised in rural North Carolina. She entered DePaul University's School of Music in Chicago in 2002, and made her opera debut while an undergraduate student at the Opera in the Ozarks portraying the title role in a production of Massenet's Cendrillon (English: Cinderella). After graduating from DePaul in 2006, she studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School where she portrayed the title character of a cross-dressing Greek Emperor in Francesco Cavalli's sexually charged Eliogabalo in 2007. She later returned to the Aspen Music Festival as a guest artist in 2015; portraying the title role in Piazzolla's tango opera María de Buenos Aires.Hall next pursued graduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, achieving a master's degree in 2011. While a student there she portrayed four roles with the Juilliard Opera: both Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and the title role in Handel's Ariodante in 2009; Nero in the school's 2010 production of Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea with Harry Bicket conducting; and Concepción in Ravel's L'heure espagnole in 2011.On March 6, 2010, Hall made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall performing the "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen in a Young People's Concert. Later that month she performed Johannes Brahms's Ophelia Lieder with Ensemble ACJW at Carnegie Hall. That same year she was chosen to appear in a recital at Lincoln Center, with baritone John Brancy. She programmed excerpts from a song cycle by Alan Smith, Vignettes: Ellis Island on texts from oral histories of immigrants in the 1900s, followed by Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis and songs from Mahler's Rückert Lieder. In the summer of 2010 she studied at the Tanglewood Music Center, and portrayed the Composer in R. Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She later performed this role again at the Fort Worth Opera (2013) the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2016), and the Moscow Philharmonic (2017).After graduating from Juilliard, Hall was awarded a Sara Tucker Study Grant in 2011 and continued to train as a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera (Met). She made her Met debut as the Second Priestess in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride with Susan Graham in the title role on February 12, 2011; a role which she recorded for Metropolitan Opera Live in HD. She continued her development as an opera singer at the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (LOC); joining that organization in 2011. Roles she performed with the LOC include Alisa in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (2011), the Second Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute (2011), the Voice of the High Priestess in Aida (2012), the third maid in Elektra by Richard Strauss (2012), and Annio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito (2014). She was awarded LOC's Brian Dickie Outstanding Young Singer Award in 2012.In 2012 Hall portrayed the title role in Handel's Teseo at the Chicago Opera Theater. She appeared as the Rhinemaiden Wellgunde in Wagner's Ring cycle at the Seattle Opera in 2013 under conductor Asher Fisch. A reviewer of this production wrote that all three Rhinemaidens "offered both welcome comic relief and gorgeous singing". She returned the following year for Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, alongside Nicolas Cavallier in the title role. She later performed the role of Zerlina at Opera Philadelphia in 2014. International career: 2014-present In 2014 Hall made her European debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Zaida in Rossini's Il turco in Italia. Later that year she made an unplanned appearance at the Bavarian State Opera as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro; filling in at the last minute for another performer. The same year she portrayed Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in Toronto with the Canadian Opera Company. In 2015, she performed at the Santa Fe Opera as Ramiro in Mozart's La finta giardiniera; and returned to the Met as Javotte in Manon. She also performed the role of Dorabella that year in a semi-staged performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.In 2016 Hall used her North Carolina accent to great effect as Ruby in Opera Philadelphia's production of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, and returned to Lincoln Center for performances as the alto soloist in Mozart's Great Mass in C minor at the Mostly Mozart Festival. In the summer of 2016 she appeared as the Geisha in Pietro Mascagni's rarely performed Iris at the Bard Music Festival. She also returned to her home state in 2016 to portray Rosina with the North Carolina Opera; a role she repeated in North Carolina with the Greensboro Opera in 2018.Hall joined the roster of resident artists at Oper Frankfurt in the autumn of 2016; making her debut with the company as the cat Poppet in Britten's Paul Bunyan in October of that year. Other roles she has sung with the company include Fulvia in Gluck's Ezio (2016), the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte (2016, 2023, & 2024) Zerlina (2017), Dorabella (2017 & 2022), Egla in Zelenka's Il Serpente di Bronzo (2018), Vlasta in Weinberg's The Passenger (2018), Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (2018-2019), Cherubino (2019, 2021), Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust (2019), Idamante in Idomeneo (2019), Irene in Tamerlano (2019 & 2022), Mercédès in Carmen (2021), and Charlotte in Massenet's Werther (2022-2023). She appeared as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 2017, in a production that Barrie Kosky had created in 2010. She later reprised the role of Dido in Frankurt in 2022.In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oper Frankfurt staged Mozart's Figaro in a version adhering to social distancing in which Hall appeared as Marcellina alongside Liviu Holender and Adriana González as Count and Countess. A reviewer of this production described the complete ensemble as young, agile, and with flexible voices. Still with social distancing, a new 2023 production of Martin's Le vin herbé had Hall in the role of Iseut.... Discover the Cecelia Smith popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Cecelia Smith books.

Best Seller Cecelia Smith Books of 2024

  • The Gathering synopsis, comments

    The Gathering

    Cecelia Smith

    A mythical land where four leaders guide the people without interfering with their lives. A great ceremony is held by the leaders calling all the people into a meadow. The ceremony...

  • 2012 The Year of Transformation synopsis, comments

    2012 The Year of Transformation

    Cecelia Smith

    In nine chapters 2012 The Year of Transformation provides a step by step spiritual action plan to handle any upheaval that may occur in 2012. With the alignment of Earth's Sun wit...

  • Embracing Change synopsis, comments

    Embracing Change

    Cecelia Smith

    A Jamaican fable set in the small village of Complacent Arkansas. The children are changed when they visit the old man at top of the hill.

  • The Samaritan synopsis, comments

    The Samaritan

    Cecelia Smith

    The Good Samaritan as told in the Bible parable is a cryptic tale with the focus on the man who helps out an unknown neighbor. The story is told from the perspective of the man who...

  • The Sleepers synopsis, comments

    The Sleepers

    Cecelia Smith

    A mystical tale of transformation.

  • The Vase synopsis, comments

    The Vase

    Cecelia Smith

    Miranda, ordinary accountant gave a seat at her table to a remarkable woman. The encounter started an extraordinary teacher student relationship that transcended time and altered s...