Biography
American soprano Lindsey Reynolds is currently in her second year as a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble. A versatile artist, Reynolds's repertoire encompasses opera, recitals, operetta, and interarts collaboration. This season, the New Orleans native will be performing the role of Barena in Jenufa and covering the role of Sadie in Terrance Blanchard's Champion and Clorinda in Cenerentola at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Additionally, she is excited about her upcoming debut as the soprano soloist in Poulenc's Stabat Mater at the Grant Park Music Festival. Last season, Ms. Reynolds appeared in Le Comte Ory, Don Carlos, and the world premiere of Proximity at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also debuted as the soprano soloist in Poulenc's Gloria at the Grant Park Music Festival. During the 2021/22 season, she portrayed Despina in Così fan tutte and Betty in the film adaptation of Marc Blitzstein's Triple-Sec with Curtis Opera Theater. She also served as an Emerging Artist with Opera Philadelphia, where she performed the role of Page in Rigoletto.
In Ms. Reynolds's 2020/21 season, she was a featured soloist in Opera Philadelphia's Lawrence Brownlee and Friends Concert, portray Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, and perform select scenes as Gilda and Adina in Curtis Opera Theatre's Opera on Demand. That summer, she was a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she sang the Soprano Soloist in Highway 1, USA, covered Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and was featured in the Center Stage Showcase. In her 2019/2020 season, Ms. Reynolds debuted as Miss. Wordsworth in Albert Herring and sang in the Curtis Symphony Orchestra concert of Mozart Scenes under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, where she performed Despina in Cosi fan tutte's Act 1 Finale and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro's Act 4 Finale. In 2020, Lindsey was selected as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she would have debuted the role of Lily in the world premiere of Awakenings by Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman (Canceled due to COVID-19).
Ms. Reynolds has participated in masterclasses with Anne Sofie von Otter, Maestro Steven Osgood, Stephanie Blyth, and composer Ben Moore, and has worked with conductors Corrado Rovaris, Roberto Kalb, Louis Lohraseb, Enrique Mazzola, Stéphane Denève, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Geoffrey McDonald, among others. Notable past roles include Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir D'amore, Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Monica in Menotti's The Medium, Carrie in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel, Cathleen in Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea, and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd.
Ms. Reynolds has received several accolades, including first place in various competitions, such as the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, Camille Coloratura Awards, Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Competition, Hal Leonard Art Song Competition, the National Association of Negro Musicians Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition. Lindey received an Emerging Artist Award from Opera Index in 2019, second place in the George Shirley Vocal Competition in 2018, was a National YoungArts Foundation Classical Voice Finalist and Silver winner in 2017, and the second-place winner in the National Classical Singer competition in 2015. She was also selected to be a featured artist on National Public Radio's From the Top in 2015, performing "Una Donna a quindici anni" from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte.
She has received scholarships from the Shoshana Foundation and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant. She has also achieved recognition from organizations such as the Opera Society of Chicago, The National Society of Arts (Shirley Rabb Winston Voice Scholarship), Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Gordon Parks Foundation, The New Orleans Opera Association's Wood Operatic Advancement Grant, and the New Orleans Center of Creative Arts Institute. Lindsey Reynolds holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Outside of performing, Lindsey enjoys playing board games, reading, spending quality time with family and friends, scootering around Chicago, and trying out new recipes!
“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”
“As Monica, her daughter, Lindsey Reynolds was sweet and well on her way to finding some of the richer vocal possibilities in this famously malleable role.”
- Peter Dobrin (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Lindsey Reynolds impresses as the Beggar Woman, but the character is not used to its maximum foreboding effect.”
– Cameron Kelsall (Broad Street Review).