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The American mezzo-soprano, Elana Bell, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice Performance and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Oberlin College (2013-2017). She obtained her Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (2018-2021), where she was featured as the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto as well as Háta in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. In Cincinnati, she also sang with the professional Vocal Arts Ensemble, served as a cantorial soloist at the historic Isaac M. Wise Temple, and was Piano/Voice Teacher at Cincinnati School of Music. She is currently (since 2021) pursuing a Master of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music, where she studies with Adriana Zabala. She was a finalist in the 2020 Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition sponsored by the National Opera Association, and has won accolades from the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition (Oakland, California) and the Tri-State College Vocal Competition (sponsored by the Opera Guild of Dayton). She is a recipient of the Margot Bos Stambler Professional Development Award and the Pi Kappa Lambda Musicianship Award from Oberlin Conservatory.
In the 2020-2021 season, Elana Bell was an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, where she study-covered the role of Junon in Rameau’s Platée and sang in the ensembles of Platée and Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. In February 2020, she covered the title role of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Louis Langrée. Upcoming in 2022, she will perform the title role in Missy Mazzoli’s chamber opera Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt at Yale’s Schwarzman Center, as well as Ruggiero in George Frideric Handel’s Alcina with Yale Opera. Favorite additional roles include Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (Music Academy of the West, Oberlin Opera Theater, Pittsburgh Festival Opera) and the title roles in Massenet’s Cendrillon (Oberlin Opera Theater) and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Oberlin in Italy).
Always excited to perform new music, Elana Bell recently sang the role of Mama in a concert excerpt from Joel Thompson’s new opera The Snowy Day with New Music New Haven. She has performed Caroline Shaw’s Cant voi l’aube with string quartet at Music Academy of the West, as well as George Benjamin’s Upon Silence for mezzo and seven strings with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. Additional concert experience includes the alto solos in G.F. Handel’s Messiah and Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, and the soprano solo in Gerald Finzi’s In Terra Pax. She currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut. |
