Erin Wood – Soprano
Erin Wood’s recent portrayals of Verdi and Wagner heroines have received praise for her “soaring soprano,” “immense voice full of grit at the bottom and transcendent radiance at the top,” and “volcanic outpouring of sound that was thrilling to behold.” Ms. Wood has replaced Deborah Voigt on short notice, both as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre with Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with San Francisco Opera. With Lyric, Ms. Wood has also been seen as Lisa in The Queen of Spades, Gutrune and the Third Norn in Götterdämmerung, Ortlinde in Die Walküre, and supporting roles in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Street Scene, Susannah and Macbeth. She was a featured artist in Lyric’s first-ever free concert at Grant Park, where she sang Mascagni’s “Easter Hymn” for an audience of 20,000 people.
She has been featured with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Opera Colorado, Opera Pacific, Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, Music Academy of the West, the Angeles Chorale, the Grant Park and Ravinia Music Festivals, as well as the Milwaukee, Pacific , Bakersfield and Lake Forest Symphonies. Ms. Wood has been seen in recital in Chicago for the Dame Myra Hess Foundation and in New York for the Marilyn Horne Foundation. She proudly joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in 2004. Recent engagements include the Verdi Requiem with the London Symphony Chorus, Un ballo in maschera for Opera Colorado and concerts all around Southern California.
Ms. Wood is an alumna of the prestigious Lyric Opera Center for American Artists and University of California, Los Angeles. Awards include the George London Foundation’s Kirsten Flagstad Award, Met National Council Central and Western Regional prizes, and Schaenen and Liberace Foundation scholarships. Erin lives in Los Angeles with her husband Keith and son Elliott.