Devon Guthrie, Soprano
Grammy-nominated American soprano Devon Guthrie made an acclaimed debut as Susanna in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro at English National Opera when she was still a student at the Juilliard School. Guthrie has won several awards and prizes in competitions, such as the Gerda Lissner Competition, Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, Licia Albanese Competition, and Liederkranz. She was also an apprentice at The Santa Fe Opera and Tanglewood Music Festival, where she worked with James Levine.
Recent operatic works include a special memorial performance with the Paul Taylor Dance Company honoring the late Paul Taylor, Brahms’ Requiem with The Santa Fe Symphony, and a return to Opera Theater of St. Louis to sing the role of Drusilla in L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Other recent highlights include a return to the role of Susanna for her company debut at Michigan Opera Theater, and at The Chicago Lyric Opera and The Prototype Festival, twice returning to the role of Mary Johnson in Greg Spears’ Fellow Travelers, a role she created for the world premiere at Cincinnati Opera. Devon also recently enjoyed her fourth season with The Santa Fe Opera, singing the role of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. Other roles have included Pamina in a new production of The Magic Flute by renowned British actor and director Simon McBurney at ENO; Konstanze in Abduction from the Seraglio at Kentucky Opera; Brahms’ Requiem with the Madison Symphony, Daisy Buchanan in Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at Tanglewood; Erste Dame in Die zauberflöte with Opera Philadelphia; Chocholka in The Cunning Little Vixen for New York Philharmonic; Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Central City Opera; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Tanglewood Music Festival; Roxana in Król Roger (cover) for Santa Fe Opera and Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice (cover) at the Metropolitan Opera.
Further career highlights include multiple seasons singing with The Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center as the soloist “Beloved Renegade,” Taylor’s piece set to the music of Faure’s Requiem; her company debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Pulcheria in Riccardo Primo; an acclaimed Santa Fe debut as Marzelline in Fidelio, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Saito Kinen Festival. On the concert platform, she has performed a Huang Ruo chamber concert with Mimesis Ensemble at Carnegie Hall and in Santa Fe.
A dedicated recitalist and contemporary music interpreter, she has appeared several times at the Opera America Salon and has performed pieces such as Lonely Child by Claude Vivier; 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Lukas Foss; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915; Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen; and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice. She also covered the role of Tatyana Bakst in the world premiere of Great Scott.
2019/2020 season highlights include returning to The Paul Taylor Dance Company as the soprano soloist for “Beloved Renegade” at Lincoln Center, Sandman/Dewfairy in Hansel and Gretel at San Diego Opera, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at Fort Worth Opera.