Photo by Synthia Steiman
Annie Chester, mezzo soprano has been praised for her strong dramatic presence on the operatic stage and for her “warm, rich, chocolatey voice”.
The 2023 season begins with Ms. Chester performing the role of Mere Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites with the Bronx Opera.
2022 began with Ms. Chester joining Baltimore Concert Opera’s production of Adriana Lecouvreur to cover the role of Principessa di Bouillon in April. In May she covered the role of Sesto with the Bronx Opera before joining the Arcadia Chorale as the mezzo-soprano soloist of Vivaldi’s Gloria. Ms. Chester will returned to Delaware Valley Opera to sing the role of Maddalena in their production of Rigoletto in July. Most recently, Ms. Chester performed the role of Mrs. Grose with Opera Baltimore for their production of The Turn of the Screw.
Ms. Chester was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Idaho/Montana & North Dakota/Manitoba District in fall of 2020 and went on to win an encouragement award from the MONC Northwest Region in 2021.
Ms. Chester returned to the operatic stage in April 2021 as the Sorceress in Sarasota Opera’s production of Dido and Aeneas. This was followed by concerts featuring classic operetta with Delaware Valley Opera: “Annie Chester brought a rich, fierce vibrance to a wide range of character and styles” (The River Reporter). Ms. Chester returned to Delaware Valley Opera to sing the role of Maggie in Conte’s The Gift of the Magi.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 season to be canceled. Ms. Chester prepared to sing with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis performing the role of Mrs. McLean in the company’s debut production of Susannah. She would have also covered the role of Dr. Landau in another company debut and world premiere opera, Awakenings by Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman.
Ms. Chester gained much attention performing Maddalena in Sarasota Opera’s 2019 fall production of Rigoletto. Of her opening night performance, The Herald Tribune stated that “Annie Chester’s Maddelena is brash and loose with a honeyed deep mezzo-soprano voice. Both feisty and amorous she plays it well.” Your Observer also claimed that “Maddalena was well sung and acted by Annie Chester, whose warm and burnished mezzo sound certainly worked its magic on the duke.”
Ms. Chester made an impressive debut with Opera Saratoga as Gertrud (Mother) in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, among other roles and concert appearances she accommodated as a Young Artist throughout the 2019 summer season. Also recently, she successfully performed with Sarasota Opera as Dritte Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and covered the role of Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco as a 2019 Studio Artist.
Other engagements include Ms. Chester’s auspicious debut with the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, about which her vocalism was memorably described as “mellifluous”. The mezzo soprano was also enthusiastically received when she performed as featured solo artist in concert with Penn Square Music Festival. Of further note, Ms. Chester performed with Sarasota Opera in the roles of Antonia in D’Albert’s Tiefland and the Madrigal Singer in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut as a 2018 Studio Artist. Previously, she was an Apprentice Artist with the company, where she covered the roles of Annina in Verdi’s La traviata (Fall 2017) and Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri (Winter 2017).
Annie Chester’s resume spans the gamut of operatic productions, oratorios and concerts, commercial media, world premieres and recitals. Her opera credits include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Amastre in Xerxes, the title role of Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Jade Boucher in Dead Man Walking and Olga in The Merry Widow among others.
As an outstanding oratorio/concert soloist, Ms. Chester has performed as mezzo/alto soloist in Bach’s Magnificat, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Corigliano’s Fern Hill, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle.
Annie Chester holds both Master of Music (MM ’16) and Bachelor of Music (BM ’14) degrees in voice performance from the world-renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, Indiana), where she studied with acclaimed voice teachers, Scharmal Schrock and Patricia Havranek.
Ms. Chester currently resides in New York City and is a student of Sharon Sweet.