Biography

From Aida to Lohengrin - Il Trovatore to Anna Bolena  - Don Carlo to Cavalleria Rusticana -  the sensational dramatic mezzo who increasingly appears on the short list of major opera houses such as Lyric Opera of Chicago,  San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Gran Theatre del Liceu Barcelona,  Hamburg State Opera,  Marseille Opera - is Eugenie Grunewald.   For good reason she is becoming the artist of choice for the next generation of dramatic mezzos.

When she saved the day for Houston Grand Opera's Il Trovatore, in a cast that included Marcello Giordani and  Sondra Radvanovsky conducted by Patrick Summers, MusicalAmerica.com took up the cheers where the frenzied audience left off: 'Stepping in for Dolora Zajick  was no easy task,  but Eugenie Grunewald showed herself a mezzo on the move.  Praised at home and in Europe in this role and for portrayals of such demonic women as Amneris,  Ulrica, and Orturd,  the young American has a huge voice loaded with grit,  and she knows how to project it with color and power.'

The good news�caught on quickly when the Dallas Morning News�raved:�'She's the�very incarnation of the gypsy hag's vulnerability and tenderness as well as her burning rage and sheer�weirdness.......this is an all-out performance,�the tone lava-hot on top,�blazing down into chest voice below.'� In 2006 she caused a sensation at the Marseille Opera in a new production of Menotti's Maria Golovin  where she galvanized the stage: 'Eugenie Grunewald brought out in the Mother the depth and grandeur of the character.  This mezzo soprano posseses so mucn in terms of voice and soul' announced the France Bleu Provence.

'Eugenie Grunewald as the Mother stands out as the most astonishing singer in the cast,�not�only because of her impeccable diction in English that makes each word she sings absolutely crystal clear.......But, above all the commanding inwardness and intensity with which the singer invests her interpretation does full justice to the character's psychological depth'�rang out Les Echos.�

American Mezzo-soprano Eugenie Grunewald has performed to popular and critical acclaim in a broad repertoire that encompasses both the dramatic roles of Verdi and Wagner and the “bel canto” repertoire of Bellini and Donizetti.  She has earned  recognition not only for  her dramatic abilities but for her vocal artistry on the stages of leading opera companies here and in Europe.  Theaters in which she has appeared  include the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Frugola in Il Tabarro and the Witch in Hansel und Gretel), San Francisco Opera (Amneris in Aida and Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera), Houston Grand Opera (Azucena in Il Trovatore), New York City Opera (Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw), Teatro Liceu in Barcelona (Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, Amneris in Aida, Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino, Eboli in Don Carlo, and Ortrud in Lohengrin), Teatro Real in Madrid (Morgan le Fey in Albeniz’ world premiere staging of Merlin),  Bilbao (Giovanna Seymour), Oviedo (Sara in Roberto Devereux), Teatro Maestranza in Seville (Azucena), Hamburg State Opera (Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Preziosilla in La Fortza del Destino,  Ulrica, and the Nurse in Ariane et Barbe Bleu), Opera de Marseille (Ulrica, Contessa and Madalon in Andrea Chenier and the Mother  in Maria Golovin), Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse (Amneris and Dido in Les Troyens), and Opera Toulon (Dame Quickly in Falstaff).  Other companies with whom she has appeared include the Florida Grand Opera (Santuzza), Fort Worth Opera (Dame Quickly), Toledo Opera (Baba the Turk and Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress), Kentucky Opera (Mother Marie and Azucena), New Jersey State Opera (Azucena), New Jersey Opera Theater (Santuzza), New Orleans Opera (Santuzza) and the summer festivals of Glimmerglass (Santuzza) and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy (the Mother in Maria Golovin).

A sought after artist on the concert stage, Ms. Grunewald has performed the Verdi Requiem in Lisbon, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Dusseldorf, Aspen Music Festival, The Riverside Chorale of New York and the Los Angeles Master Chorale; Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with the Tulsa Symphony; Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with the Arkansas Symphony, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex with Aspen Music Festival conducted by David Zinman; Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans and Lubov in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa opposite June Anderson and Sergei Leiferkus at Carnegie Hall;  Anaide in Leoncavallo's Zaza and Margherita in Mascagni's Guglielmo Ratcliff at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Mahler’s 8th  Symphony  with the Bruchnerfest in Linz and SWF-Sinfoniaorchester of Frieburg (Michael Gielen conducting), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Columbus Symphony Orchestra under Christian Badea and the Orchestra of St. Luke's under Sir Gilbert Levine.  She was also a featured soloist on “Live from Lincoln Center’s Pavarotti Plus.” .

Ms. Grunewald is a graduate of Ohio State University and was the first prize winner in the Enrico Caruso International Voice Competition. She has also received grants from the Olga Forrai Foundation, the Sullivan Foundation, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Singers Development Foundation.