ABOUT

NYC and Chicago based mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Barkidjija excels in operatic, concert, and choral settings. Ms. Barkidjija is an avid performer of new music and rarely-performed works. She has sung many world and regional premieres and has commissioned several solo and ensemble works.

This season, Gabrielle will perform as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Aaron Copland’s In The Beginning with Cantori New York under the baton of Mark Shapiro. She will perform this piece at the Church of the Holy Apostles, as well as at Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall. This winter, Gabrielle will be a Studio Artist with Sarasota Opera. At Sarasota Opera, she will cover the role of Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (which has been a dream role of hers since she began studying opera), will sing the role of Dorotea in Verdi’s Stiffelio, will sing in the ensemble of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and will perform in several concerts.

Her 2023-2024 season highlights included her performance of Dodo in Detroit Opera’s production of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves for which she received critical acclaim, and her Carnegie Hall Debut as the mezzo-soprano soloist in the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Everyone, Everywhere with The Cecilia Chorus of New York. This winter she participated in Carnegie Hall Songstudio under the mentorship of Renée Fleming, and this summer, she returned to the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist where she sang the role of Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Ms. Barkidjija was a Resident Artist with Detroit Opera for the company’s 2022-2023 season. She made her mainstage debut as the Voice of the Fountain (Ainadamar), as well as covered the roles of of Siebel (Faust), Arsamenes (Xerxes), and Federico Garcia Lorca (Ainadamar). She also reprised the role of Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) with the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and performed in many concerts with the company.

Ms. Barkidjija has been a young artist with several summer festivals and companies, including the Tanglewood Music Center, the Merola Opera Program, Central City Opera, and the Aspen Opera Center. As a Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellow, she performed many concert works, including but not limited to Alma Mahler’s Vier Lieder, Maurice Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, Ania Vu’s small tendernesses (premiere), and Margaret Bonds’ Four Songs of Edna St. Vincent Millay. At Central City Opera, where she as an Apprentice Artist and a Studio Artist, she sang the role of Zosia/Wala in the Colorado premiere of Jake Heggie’s Two Remain. As a Merola Opera Program young artist, she performed as Angelina (La Cenerentola) in Merola’s award-winning film “Back Home: Through the Stage Door,” and performed in Merola’s recital, “Where the Heart Desires.” She spent two summers as an Aspen Music Festival Studio Artist, where she covered the role of Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and performed as Lavia in a semi-staged reading of Rufus Wainwright’s opera, Hadrian.

Throughout her education at Northwestern University and the Boston University Opera Institute, Gabrielle performed many operatic roles, including Zosia/Wala (Two Remain), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Brittomara (If I were you), Ada Lovelace (The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace), Fanny Price (Mansfield Park), Proserpina (Orfeo), Captain (Dog Days), Beatrice (Beatrice et Benedict), Mrs. Grose (Turn of the Screw), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nora (Riders to the Sea), Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites) and Estelle Oglethorpe (Later the Same Evening). The productions of Dog Days and Later the Same Evening were Chicago premiere performances, and the productions of If I were you, The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, and Mansfield Park were Boston premiere performances.

Equally comfortable in the concert setting, Ms. Barkidjija has performed a variety of concert works with orchestra and other ensembles. She has performed as the mezzo-soprano soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Leonard Bernstein’s “Jeremiah Symphony,” “America: A Prophecy” (Thomas Ades), “Ad Genua” (Anna Thorvaldsdottir), “Messiah” (Handel), “Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina” (Martini), and “Hymne au Soleil” (Lili Boulanger). She has also sung with The Crossing Choir, a GRAMMY-winning contemporary choral ensemble conducted by Donald Nally, most notably singing in the world premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my Mouth with the New York Philharmonic. She has sung with Stare at the Sun, a contemporary choral ensemble based in Chicago, and was a 5-year member of the Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble, with whom she performed several world and Midwestern premieres. Ms. Barkidjija also co-founded and served as the President of Northwestern University’s Renaissance Singers, a classical a cappella ensemble. As President, she commissioned several composers to write works for the ensemble.

Ms. Barkidjija has earned top awards from many organizations, including the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder Competition, the Camille Coloratura Awards, the Rochester International Vocal Competition, the Premiere Opera Foundation, the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition, the Orpheus Vocal Competition, the National Opera Association Competition, the Classical Singer Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera Dominique Laffont Competition. In 2022, she was awarded the Phyllis Curtin Award by Boston University in recognition of her outstanding artistic growth and commitment to excellence. In 2018, Ms. Barkidjija was awarded a full-merit scholarship to complete her graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. She also was awarded the Paderewski Medal for piano performance.

Ms. Barkidjija is originally from River Forest, Illinois and currently resides in New York, New York.