Peabody Southwell – Mezzo-Soprano
Peabody Southwell (Mezzo-soprano) made a critically acclaimed Central City Opera debut this summer as Anna in Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden and Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi following performances as Carmen in Brook’s La tragédie de Carmen in Hawaii. She made her professional debut with Long Beach Opera as The Fox in Janá?ek’s Cunning Little Vixen following her 2008 graduation from UCLA. Subsequent engagements with Long Beach Opera have included Ramiro in Vivaldi’s Motezuma (US Premiere), Drummer in Ullman’s Emperor of Atlantis, Nancy T’ang in Adams’ Nixon in China, Baroness von Botzenheim in Kurka’s Good Soldier Schweik, Neris in Cherubini’s Medea, Nefertiti in Glass' Akhnaten, and Masha in Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cherry Town. Orchestral credits include Dalbavie’s Sextine Cyclus, Debussy‘s Les chansons de Bilitis, Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and Mark Popeney’s Harvest Moon (World Premiere). Committed to contemporary music, she has debuted many works by modern composers, recently for Patrick Leonard and The White Oak Dance Project. In 2010-2011, she was a prize-winning finalist in Western Region for the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and an international finalist in the 2011 Lotte Lenya Competition. Upcoming projects include the role of Frederico Garcia Lorca in LBO’s production of Golijov’s controversial Ainadamar, a concert series of Hindemith’s Das Marienleben with Blackbird Music Project, and Stravinsky chamber works with Jacaranda Music for Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A.