Krista River
mezzo soprano
Biography
Hailed by Opera News for her “lovely clarity and golden color,” mezzo-soprano Krista River is a versatile performer who is at home in repertoire ranging from the Baroque period to the 21st century. She was a winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and a 2007 grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation. Recent notable performances include the International Water and Life Festival in Qinghai, China, and recitals at Jordan Hall in Boston, the Asociación Nacional de Conciertos in Panama City, Panama, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, about which the New York Times praised her “warm voice and witty interpretive style.”
Ms. River’s 2011-2012 season will include the role of Sesto in Emmanuel Music’s concert production of La clemenza di Tito, de Falla’s El Amor Brujo with the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Choral Society of Durham. With the North Carolina Symphony, she will perform J. Mark Scearce’s This Thread and Mozart Requiem as part of a memorial concert for victims of 9/11. She will also be featured in chamber music concerts with Serenata of Santa Fe, the Ciompi Quartet in Durham, NC, and the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Recent opera roles include the title role in Handel’s Xerxes with Arcadia Players, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Mercury Baroque, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the North Carolina Symphony, Annio in La clemenza di Tito with Opera Boston, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Crested Butte Music Festival, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Opera Aperta, the Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Santa Fe Symphony, Nancy in Albert Herring with Red House Opera, and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Opera Southwest. As Anna I in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with Intermezzo Opera, the Boston Phoenix said, “River’s luscious voice was a treat. She injected words with both meaning and nuance. And she moved on stage as if she’d lived there all her life.”
Ms. River’s orchestral engagements have included appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, York Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Pittsburgh Bach and Baroque Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She has performed as a guest artist at music festivals including John Harbison’s Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Monadnock Music, Music from Salem, Saco River Festival, Meeting House Music Festival on Cape Cod, and the Portland Chamber Music Festival in Maine.
A contemporary music advocate, Ms. River has given premieres of new works by numerous composers including Tom Cipullo, Howard Frazin, Thomas Schnauber and Herschel Garfein. She created the role of Genevieve in Brian Hulse’s chamber opera The Game at the Kennedy Center, as part of their Millennium Stage series. She sang the world premiere of Scott Wheeler’s Turning Back at her 2008 solo recital at Weill Recital Hall, and is featured on two of Wheeler’s CDs -- The Construction of Boston, recorded live with Boston Cecilia, and Wasting the Night: Songs – both released on Naxos Records.
Ms. River began her musical career as a cellist, earning her music degree at St. Olaf College. She resides in Boston and is a regular soloist with Emmanuel Music’s renowned Bach Cantata Series.