Schedule

Friday, May 23 2025 |  7:30PM

Wednesday, May 28 2025 |  7:00PM

Saturday, May 31 2025 |  7:30PM

Wednesday, Jun  4 2025 |  7:00PM

Saturday, Jun  7 2025 |  1:00PM

Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson • Production by Elijah Moshinsky

Tchaikovsky’s macabre thriller, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, is back in the Met’s atmospheric staging. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva makes her highly anticipated role debut as Lisa, the young woman who embarks on a deadly love affair with the gambling-obsessed officer Hermann, sung by tenor Brian Jagde, also in his role debut. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his moving portrayal of Lisa’s fiancé, Prince Yeletsky, alongside mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana as the spectral Countess and baritone Alexey Markov as Count Tomsky. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts the sweeping score.

Tessa covers Chloë in this production.

Sunday, Apr 27 2025 |  3:00PM

Thursday, May  1 2025 |  7:30PM

Monday, May  5 2025 |  8:00PM

Friday, May  9 2025 |  8:00PM

Conductor(s) Yannick Nézet-Séguin & John Keenan • Production by Michael Mayer

Soprano Angel Blue makes her long-awaited Met role debut as the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country, one of opera’s defining roles. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for the New Year’s Eve premiere of Michael Mayer’s spectacular new staging, which brings audiences inside the towering pyramids and gilded tombs of ancient Egypt with intricate projections and dazzling animations. Mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi, following her 2024 debut in Verdi’s LaForzadelDestino, is Aida’s Egyptian rival Amneris, sharing the role with Elīna Garanča, who returns to the Met for the first time since 2020. Leading tenors Piotr Beczała and Brian Jagde alternate as the soldier Radamès, who completes the greatest love triangle in the repertory. The all-star cast also features baritones Quinn Kelsey and Amartuvshin Enkhbat and bass-baritone Eric Owens as Amonasro and basses Dmitry Belosselskiy, Alexander Vinogradov, and Morris Robinson as Ramfis. Christina Nilsson makes her Met debut in the title role in March, and Alexander Soddy shares conducting duties.

Tessa sings Priestess in this production and on the listed dates above.

March 19, 2025 | 5:30pm

In collaboration with Mariam Bombrun. Tessa will present Alan L. Smith’s song cycle “Vignettes: Letters from George to Evelyn From the Private Papers of a World War II Bride.” This recital will take place in the Bruno Walter Auditorium within The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Free admission with limited seating.

Monday, Jan  6 2025 |  7:00PM

Wednesday, Jan  8 2025 |  7:00PM

Saturday, Jan 11 2025 |  1:00PM

Conductor Daniele Callegari • Production by Bartlett Sher

Verdi’s heartbreaking masterpiece returns, with reigning Verdi baritone Quinn Kelsey reprising his devastating portrayal of the hunchbacked court jester. Radiant soprano Nadine Sierra is his naïve daughter, Gilda, and tenor Stephen Costello is the rakish Duke of Mantua, with Maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi on the podium to conduct Bartlett Sher’s Weimar-inspired production. A second run of performances features the Met debut of rising tenor Pene Pati, alongside soprano Erin Morley and baritone Luca Salsi, conducted by Maurizio Benini.

Tessa makes her MET debut in this production on the listed dates above.

Thursday, Dec 19 2024

Pianist(s) Ye In Kwak & Deborah Robertson • Director Patricia Racette

Martha by Friedrich von Flotow: “Der Lenz ist gekommen…” as Lady Harriet with Tenor Daniel O’Hearn as Lionel. In collaboration with pianist Ye In Kwak.

Così fan tutte by Mozart: Act I finale as Fiordiligi with Lindsay Martin as Dorabella, Hannah Jones as Despina, Jonghyun Park as Ferrando, Yeongtaek Yang as Guglielmo, and Sunghoon Han as Don Alfonso. In collaboration with pianist Deborah Robertson.

This is not a public ticketed event.

August 17, 2024 7:30pm

Conductor Steven White • Director Anna Theodosakis (Merola ‘24)

A triumphant end to a transformative season, the Merola Grand Finale features all young artists of the summer program in a dazzling array of opera’s most brilliant works. Conducted by Maestro Steven White and directed by 2024 Merola Stage Director Anna Theodosakis, this festive evening showcases the extraordinary talent of the 2024 Merolini.

Tessa McQueen & Nathan Bryon sing the Act 1 Duet “Ange Adorable” from Roméo et Juliette by Gounod. She is then joined by Michael John Butler in the Watch Duet from Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II.

"Personal favorites were...soprano Tessa McQueen’s high-flying, brilliantly colored Juliette with tenor Nathan Bryon singing Romeo in Gounod’s opera about doomed love. " - Caroline Crawford

July 11, 2024 7:30 PM

July 13, 2024 2:00 PM

Conductor Louis Lohraseb • Director Omer Ben Seadia (Merola ‘14)

Bay Area audiences are invited to revel in the drama passion and melody of classic opera, as the Merola artists present extended scenes from works by Donizetti, Gounod, Leoncavallo, Massenet, Puccini, and Richard Strauss, among others. Performed with a full orchestra, the Schwabacher Summer Concert will be conducted by the internationally renowned Maestro Louis Lohraseb, with direction by Omer Ben Seadia (Merola ‘14) and Anna Theodosakis (Merola ‘24).

This production is a semi-staged concert of scenes, performed with orchestra.

Tessa McQueen (Nedda) and Olivier Zerouali (Silvio) sing the great love duet from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci with Sihao Hu (Tonio).

“Soprano Tessa McQueen as Nedda in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci made the agony of her character reach out from the stage, willing but unable to give in to the pleading of Silvio, sung by baritone Olivier Zerouali.” -SF Classical Voice

April 17, 2024 12:30pm

Ms. McQueen sings a recital at The Shepherd School of Music in the Duncan Recital Hall at 12:30pm on April 17, 2024. In fulfillment of the degree Master of Music in Voice Performance.

Featuring Alban Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder, selections by Henri Duparc, and a final set of Jerome Kern songs. In collaboration with Rachel Chao and Maestro Tom Jaber.

The Shepherd School of Music presents the Aleko Endowed Master Class Artist Series.

The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University is proud to announce three-time Grammy Award winner Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano and star on the world’s leading stages and screens, as the 2023-2024 Aleko Endowed Master Class Artist.

Ms. Leonard’s master class will feature Shepherd School opera students:

Tessa McQueen, Soprano

Audrey Welsh, Mezzo-Soprano

Kellan Dunlap, Tenor

Adam Partridge, Baritone

with Bethany Self, Piano (Principal Coach, Opera Studies)

Her multi-day residency includes a public master class on Sunday, April 14 at 2:00pm in Brockman Hall for Opera’s Morrison Theater and four days of private coaching sessions with Shepherd School opera students.

The Aleko Endowed Master Class Artist Series brings leading artists and teachers to campus to work with students. Leonard will visit the Shepherd School while preparing for her lead role as Maria in Houston Grand Opera’s production of The Sound of Music, which opens April 26. She will return to HGO in the fall of 2024 to sing the title role in Rossini’s Cinderella. The Shepherd School graciously acknowledges HGO for coordinating this important teaching residency.

April 5, 7:30pm

April 7, 2:00pm

Benjamin Manis, Conductor • R.B. Schlather, Director • Joshua Winograde, Director of Opera Studies • Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra

The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University presents a double bill production of Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell & The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten.

The cast includes —

Female Chorus: Tessa McQueen

Kellan Dunlap, Katherine Dobbs, Adam Partridge, Meg Brilleslyper, Stephanie Chee, Willam Dopp, Collin Jumes

Conductor Evan Rogister • Director Sarah Erde

Tessa McQueen was named a 2024 National Finalist in the Met’s Laffont competition. She competed with 10 other singers, selected from around the world, on stage with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

She sang “In quali eccessi ... Mi tradì” from Don Giovanni (Mozart) in act one and “Ain’t it a pretty night?” from Susannah (Floyd) in act two.

She received the Ellie Caulkins Award in the finals and was named a 2024 National Finalist.

Prior to the National Semi-Finals, she was named a Winner of the Colorado-Wyoming District on February 3, 2024 and a Winner of the Rocky Mountain Region.

Feb 16, 2024, 4:00pm

The Shepherd School of Music presents a Vocal Repertoire Master Class with renowned conductor Maestro Hans Graf in Duncan Recital Hall at Alice Pratt Brown Hall.

Tessa McQueen, soprano; Lyndsi Maus, piano

Berg from Seven Early Songs

Die Nachtigall

Im Zimmer

Sommertage

Katherine Dobbs, mezzo-soprano; Nino Sanikidze, piano

Mahler from Kindertotenlieder

Nun seh’ich wohl, warm so dunkle Flammen

Oft denk’ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen

Gabriel Natal Báez, baritone; Lyndsi Maus, piano

Mahler from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht

Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld

January 28, 2024 5:00pm

Erin Freeman, Conductor

Tessa McQueen joins the Washington City Choir as the Soprano II Soloist for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor.

Celebrate Mozart’s 268th birthday with the City Choir of Washington! Be swept away by the beauty and solemnity of W.A. Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor on January 28, 2024 (the day after Mozart’s birthday) in the stark grandeur and quiet beauty of National Presbyterian Church. “For Mozart’s Birthday”: January 28, 2024 | 5 PM | National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC.

December 2, 2023 3:30pm

Tessa McQueen competed in the finals of the Palm Spring Opera Guild Competition, singing “Jewel Song” from Faust and “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” from La rondine.

Ms. McQueen took home 3rd place.

August 7, 2023

Wolf Trap Opera presents the Studio Artist’s in a showcase of Opera Scenes.

Tessa McQueen sings Elettra in the quartet from Idomeneo by Mozart, The Marschallin in the cherished trio from Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss, and Alice Ford in the Falstaff Final Fugue by Verdi.

February 13, 2023 8:00pm

Ms. McQueen sings a recital at The Shepherd School of Music in the Duncan Recital Hall 8:00pm in Duncan Recital Hall. In fulfillment of the degree Master of Music in Voice Performance.

In collaboration with Lyndsi Maus.

April 14, 2023 7:30pm

April 16, 2023 2:00pm

Gary Thor Wedow, Conductor • Jennifer Williams, Director • Bethany Self, Director of Opera Studies

Tessa McQueen sings the titular role as Poppea in the spring opera production, L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, from the Rice University Shepherd School of Music’s Opera and Chamber Orchestra.

July 16, 20, 21, 28, 2022

Brandon Eldredge, Conductor • Dan Wallace Miller, Director

Central City Opera presents Two Remain (Out Of Darkness) by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer.

Tessa McQueen sings Krystyna Zywulska in the regional and newly edited premiere of the work.

Two Remain tells the powerful true stories of Holocaust survivors Krystyna Zywulska and Gad Beck. Premiering in 2016 under the title Out of Darkness, the two-act opera was commissioned by Music of Remembrance at Benaroya Hall in Seattle and composed by Jake Heggie. The libretto by Gene Scheer is based on documents and journals found in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Central City Opera’s production was the Colorado regional premiere of this stunning piece.

Jan McDaniel, Music Director • Michael Baron, Director

This Tony Award-winning play by American playwright Terrence McNally is presented as a fictional master class by larger-than-life opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. Alternately dismayed and impressed by the students who parade before her, Callas retreats into recollections about the glories of her own life and career. Featuring excerpts from famous operas sung live by her students, Callas shares with us the rewards and sacrifices taken in the name of art.

Tessa McQueen portrays Sharon Graham, a student at Juilliard, who sings a portion of Lady Macbeth’s aria “Vieni t’affretta” from Macbeth by Verdi for Maria Callas.