Carol Wilson - Soprano
University of North Texas
Soprano Carol Wilson is a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of North Texas. She has an extensive teaching background, having served on the voice faculties at Oberlin College, Vassar College and Sarah Lawrence College, among others. A graduate of the Yale School of Music with the degree Doctor of Musical Arts, Ms. Wilson was awarded their Music Alumni Association Prize. Her undergraduate Alma Mater, Iowa State University, recently conferred upon her both the Dean’s Arts and Humanities Medal and the Outstanding Alumni Award.
She made her international opera debut as Fiordiligi at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1999 and, as one of their principal soloists , performed a number of roles including Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role inAriadne auf Naxos, Kaiserin in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Leonore in Fidelio, Senta in Der fliegende Holländer, Countess Madeleine in Capriccio, and most notably, Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, a role for which she has won much critical acclaim.
Ms. Wilson possesses a unique vocal versatility, enabling her to move easily from the more dramatic Wagner and Strauss roles to those of Mozart and Handel. She has appeared in theaters internationally as Contessa Almaviva inLe Nozze di Figaro for Manitoba Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Staatstheater Stuttgart and Staatstheater Nürnberg, in the title role of Handel’s Alcina in Stuttgart, as well as the title roles in Monteverdi’sL’incoronazione di Poppea directed by Christoph Loy, and Gluck’s Iphigenie auf Tauris with the Pina Bausch Dance Theater Wuppertal.
Additionally, her operatic repertoire includes Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Agathe in Der Freischütz, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. She has performed at major opera houses in Europe, North America and Asia including Oper Frankfurt, Semper Oper Dresden, National Theater Taipei, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Staatsoper Hannover, Vancouver Opera, Manitoba Opera, Staatstheater Bonn, Staatstheater Nürnberg, San Francisco Opera, Netherlands Opera, and most recently with the Metropolitan Opera where she was responsible for the Marschallin.
Among her concert engagements in the United States are those with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with Maestro Julius Rudel, the American Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Leon Botstein, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra at the Caramoor Festival, the Vancouver Festival with Maestro Jonathan Darlington, and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
An advocate for 20th and 21st century repertoire, Ms. Wilson made role debuts as Olivia in Manfred Trojahn’s opera Was ihr wollt, and Marietta inDie tote Stadt with the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Her extensive chamber music credits include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, the soprano solo in hisSecond String Quartet, Erwartung at the Concertgebouw, Sechs-Lieder for soprano and orchestra op. 8 with the Duesseldorfer Symphoniker, as well as Boulez’ Pli selon Pli, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and Elliot Carter’s A mirror on which to Dwell.