DR. CRISTY LYNN BROWN, MEZZO-SOPRANO

American mezzo-soprano Dr. Cristy Lynn Brown has had an extensive singing career on both the opera and concert stage.  Her diverse operatic repertoire spans from the dramatic to the comic. Dr. Brown’s performance as Mme. deCroissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites was praised by Opera Newsas “exquisitelydetailed” and “harrowing.”  Opera (London) applauded her voice and acting as “rotund of voice [and] fiercely loyal of demeanor.”   Her comic flair has been noted in her performances as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, and the Old Lady in Candide.  She has appeared with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Dayton Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Roanoke, Opera Carolina, Toledo Opera, Mobile Opera, and has been an audience favorite as the Mother in Piedmont Opera’s past productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Dr. Brown has appeared in concert in the United States and Europe, touring extensively in Germany and France as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  Her performances of works such as the Verdi Requiem, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Elijah, and Handel’s Messiah have become well known throughout the United States. She has also appeared in concert at the Mozart Bicentennial Festival at Lincoln Center and has been a frequent soloist in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. She was highly acclaimed for her performance in Verdi’s Requiem with the Raleigh Master Chorale, and in their performance of Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied, and she has performed throughout North Carolina singing with most of the major Symphony Orchestras and Choral Societies. Most recently she has turned her focus on recital repertoire. She has worked with the art song and opera composer Lori Laitman and has sung the world premier of composer Steven Landis’s Songs of Love and Immolation, as well asthe premier of composer Samuel Taylor’s Emily Dickinson Songs.

She is a two-time winner of the South Carolina District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and an Affiliate Artist’s Talent for America winner. She received her BM in Vocal Performance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts as well as an Artist Diploma. At the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, she studied with world renowned soprano Virginia Zeani, and Metropolitan Opera Soprano Martina Arroyo. Dr. Brown earned her MM and DMA in Vocal Performance at the University of North Carolina Greensboro where she studied with mezzo- soprano Clara O’Brien, and in 2019 she was inducted into the prestigious Pi Kappa Lambda music honors society.

Dr. Brown’s teaching career includes Indiana University where she taught applied voice and group voice classes, University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she was the director of the summer vocal workshop and taught voice at the UNCSA Community Music School, University of North Carolina Greensboro where she taught class voice, and High Point University where she taught elective music courses. She was Instructor of Voice for ten years, and she also served two years as the Associate Director of the School of Music at historic Salem College which is the oldest liberal arts college for women in the United States. Dr. Brown is sought after for her master classes and vocal workshops, and in 2018 to 2021 she gave workshops and master classes for the prestigious Royal School of Church Music- Carolina Course which was held at Duke University and the RSCM National Virtual Conference. She is currently the Instructional Coordinator for Fine Arts at Forsyth Tech Community College