Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo-soprano
A true singing actor, Ann McMahon Quintero has never known a life without an audience to entertain. From her early days as an instrumentalist, chorister and dancer, she has evolved into a mezzo-soprano who enjoys a career on the operatic and concert stage where her rich voice has been praised for “warm, honeyed tones” (Baltimore Sun), and “fully nuanced” portrayals of characters ranging from Verdi’s Amneris, Azucena and Mistress Quickly to the Old Lady In Candide. In all she does, Ann McMahon Quintero brings to the stage deep intelligence, brilliant artistry and unmatched confidence.
Ann’s recent orchestral engagements have included appearances with the Boston Baroque as soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Haydn’s Requiem in C minor and Handel’s Messiah. She has also sung Messiah with Charlotte and Alabama symphony orchestras and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has performed as soloist for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Williamsburg and Columbus Symphonies and the Buffalo Philharmonic with Joann Falletta. She recorded Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under the direction of Maestro Falletta with the Virginia Arts Festival as well. Nationwide engagements with The Defiant Requiem Foundation performing Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezin Composer and the Verdi Requiem have brought Ann to Chicago, Detroit, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. She has also performed the Verdi Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Cathedral Choral Society Washington, Brevard Music Center, Berkshire Choral, Southwest Florida Symphony and the South Bend Symphony. Also with Berkshire Choral, she has performed Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Requiem; Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Britten’s Spring Symphony.
Her recent operatic appearances have included The Old Lady (Candide) with Arizona and Portland Opera; Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) with Austin Lyric Opera, Suor Pazienza (Giordano’s Mese Mariano) with the Spoleto Festival (USA), Mary (Der fliegende Holländer) and Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Boston Lyric Opera, Mistress Quickly (Falstaff) with Virginia Opera, Opera Delaware and Opéra de Lausanne, Amneris (Aida) with Annapolis Opera, and Azucena (Il trovatore) at Musica Viva Hong Kong and Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Her operatic roles with the Boston Baroque have included the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, Storgé in Handel’s Jephtha and Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
Other roles include La Haine in Gluck’s Armide with New Israeli Opera (her international debut), Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress) with Angers Nantes Opera, Olga Olsen (Street Scene) with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) with Palm Beach Opera, Gertrude (Roméo et Juliette) with Toledo Opera, Glaša (Kátya Kabanová) and Teresa (La sonnambula) with The Santa Fe Opera, Auntie in Peter Grimes, Tisbe in La Cenerentola and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Washington National Opera.
Ann is a winner of the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation; second-place winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, the George London Foundation and the Sullivan Foundation; and was a semifinalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia and a Grand National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, making her first appearance on the Met stage in the Grand Finals Concert with Julius Rudel.