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	---> b i o g r a p h y ---> r e s u m e ---> r e v i e w s ---> w e b s i t e ................................................................................. ---> write to Manager
Cherry Duke, mezzo-soprano

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up November 2009 Opera Hailed by the press as a "radiant and confident" performer, mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke has sung with many of America’s foremost companies. Cherry’s "striking voice-acting and stage movement" is especially evident in complex leading roles such as Nerone in The Coronation of Poppea (Opera Omnia, NYC), Jo March in Adamo’s Little Women (New York City Opera Japan Tour, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Ash Lawn Opera Festival) and Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (New York Chamber Opera). She has sung the title roles in Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, The Rape of Lucretia and Carmen as well as principal mezzo-soprano roles in Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly, Die Zauberflöte, Falstaff, Rigoletto, The Mikado, La Traviata, L’enfant et les sortilèges and The Love for Three Oranges, to name a few. Cherry has performed several roles with New York City Opera and traveled to Japan with NYCO to cover Jo March in Little Women and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Upcoming engagements include Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena in NYC and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Helena Symphony Orchestra. "Pants Roles" The role of Hansel has become a regular fixture in Miss Duke’s career. She has performed it over 250 times across the United States in at least five different translations. She performs a variety of other "trouser roles" with ease, "quelling any suspension of disbelief problems that can arise as woman plays man." (Denton Record-Chronicle) These roles include Stephano in Romeo et Juliette, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and the title role in the mystery-musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, among others. In 2008, Cherry performed the role of Nero in The Coronation of Poppea with Opera Omnia to great acclaim: "Cherry Duke’s Nero was this Poppea’s perfect match. Ms. Duke sang the music of this top-drawer historical creep with a regal bearing, even as he reveled in the destruction of his foes." (The New York Times) Recent engagements include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Helena Symphony Orchestra. New Music and Musical Theater A versatile and intelligent singing actress, Cherry is frequently involved in cross-over and brand-new works. As a soloist in the last several seasons of New York City Opera’s VOX: Showcasing American Composers concerts, she was featured in works with a variety of styles, including Scott Davenport Richards’ jazz opera, Charlie Crosses the Nation. In 2009, she sang in Gordon Beeferman’s Ratland and David Bruce’s A Bird in Your Ear. Cherry has thrived in cross-over shows such as TheaterFaction’s Celebrate Good Times: Macbeth, Music Theater Group’s The Rose Project (title role) and Bard SummerScape Festival’s world premiere of Carl Hancock Rux and Diedre Murray’s The Blackamoor Angel. Cherry’s versatility was showcased in her portrayal of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific (Ash Lawn Opera Festival). "Cherry Duke [was] spunky and exuberant and sang and danced her way into our hearts." (The Daily Progress) Oratorio & Concert In concert, Cherry Duke has performed with orchestras from coast to coast, including appearances at major halls such as Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. Cherry has been a featured sololist in Falla's El Amor Brujo, Bach’s B-Minor Mass, St. John’s Passion and Weihnachts-Oratorium, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy, Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Mass in Time of War and Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Vesperes Solennes, Schubert’s Mass in B-flat, Vaughan-Williams’ Magnificat, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio and of course, Handel’s Messiah, as well as several orchestral "Pops" concerts. Upcoming concerts include return engagements with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (FL), New York’s Canterbury Choral Society and a debut with the Charlottesville and University Symphony (VA). Awards and Honors A Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions New York District Winner, Cherry is the recipient of many awards, including the Grand Prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Young Artist Competition and the Liederkranz Foundation Voice Competition. A Fort Worth, Texas native, Cherry graduated summa cum laude from Texas Woman’s University where she studied with prolific vocal pedagogy and diction textbook author Joan Wall. She received her graduate degree in Opera from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Cherry Duke resides in New York City. b i o.....rr e s u m e.....rr e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

. r e s u m e...........back to roster....up click here to read Cherry Duke's resume (PDF) b i o.....rr e s u m e.....rr e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

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. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up NERO: THE CORONATION OF POPPEA "Cherry Duke’s Nero was this Poppea’s perfect match. Ms. Duke sang the music of this top-drawer historical creep with a regal bearing, even as he reveled in the destruction of his foes." —Allan Kozinn, The New York Times "Cherry Duke was an effective Nero, her voice blending exquisitely with Chinn’s especially in the great closing duet. Duke played Nero’s (troubled) masculinity with conviction and, like Chinn, did not overact Nero’s unpleasant traits; she let the actions, words and music speak for themselves. In their musical assurance and beautifully understated acting they were the finest Nero and Poppea I have encountered in the theatre." —Mark Ringer, Classics Today "Cherry Duke made a fine, unusually masculine Nerone... [Poppea's] final duet with Ms. Duke’s Nerone was the perfect conclusion to waft us into the night in a cloud of erotic reverie: Ah yes, back in 1641, this is why opera caught on." —John Yohalem, Opera Today "Cherry Duke as Nerone and Hai-Ting Chinn as That Girl had a fascinating chemistry rooted in Ms. Duke's physical take on the role, honestly about the most forget-what-you're-actually-seeing travesti turn I can think of just now." —Maury D'Annato, My Favorite Intermissions HANSEL: HANSEL & GRETEL "Hansel and Gretel, played respectively by Cherry Duke and Danielle Talamantes, infuse their characters with such playfulness that it's easy to believe they are children. Their voices also blend gloriously, placing their duets among the show's highlights." —Reno Gazette-Journal "Both [Cherry Duke as Hansel and Danielle Talamantes as Gretel] are excellent with clear, crystalline voices that play to the poignancy of Humperdinck's writing without forced theatricality or blurred vocal purity." —Jack Neal's Music Reviews JO IN LITTLE WOMEN "Mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke was a standout as Jo. In a vital, shapely vocal performance, she caught both the character's headstrong determination and the reservoir of tenderness underlying it." —San Francisco Chronicle "Duke is a singer who communicates both the music and the text impeccably...it takes 'heroic diction' to do that and Duke surely has the helden-delivery." —San Francisco Classical Voice "Duke was superb! She created a vibrant, strong-willed woman who knows her own mind and her own place in the world. Her singing proved crystal clear, beautifully consistent and always true to the meaning of the text. Her striking voice-acting and stage movement set a high standard for the entire work." —The Daily Progress SMERALDINA IN THE LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES (NEW YORK CITY OPERA) "Among the large and quite competent cast, standouts were Matthew Chellis…Linda Roark-Strummer…Kathryn Day and Eduardo Chama…and Cherry Duke as a cute and wily Smeraldina." —Opera News LUCRETIA IN THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA "The rich, beautiful voice and regal bearing of Cherry Duke made her Lucretia a memorable performance. Her poise and the intensity of her acting caused the entire audience to become increasingly involved in her plight. Here is a singing actress about whom we should hear more and more over the next few years." —OperaJamboree MEG IN FALSTAFF "[Emily Pulley] and the two mezzo-soprano 'Merry Wives,' Cherry Duke and Susan Nicely, were the epitome of three women with a mission to destroy Falstaff. Their voices complemented their roles and each other." —Omaha World-Herald HANSEL IN HANSEL & GRETEL "Phoebe Yadon's Gretel and Cherry Duke's Hansel were well portrayed, vocally and theatrically. Their animated expressions and child-like physicality engaged [the audience]." –The Courier-Gazette "[Cherry Duke's] reactions are honest and childlike… [she] tackles probably the most difficult role...with ease and energy, promptly quelling any suspension of disbelief problems that can arise as woman plays man." —Denton Record-Chronicle SUZUKI IN MADAMA BUTTERFLY "Cherry Duke como Susuki [sic] y Alessandro Magno como Sharpless, revelaron ser cantantes profesionales completos, poseedores de notables condiciones, que contribuyeron al alto nivel logrado." —El Comercio (Lima, Péru) MCCAMMON VOCAL COMPETITION "Mezzo Cherry Duke recalled Anne Sofie von Otter with her reserved but passionate aria from Handel's Giulio Cesare..." —Fort Worth Weekly BACH'S B-MINOR MASS (HARTFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA) "The most remarkable of the five [soloists] was mezzo Cherry Duke, who stepped in at the last minute...Duke learned the piece in a day or two, but her radiant, confident performance gave no hint of any of that." —The Hartford Courant PITTI-SING IN THE MIKADO: "A wonderful bright spot throughout the show is Cherry Duke…She has a gorgeous alto voice, round and clear even in the lowest range. She has charm and strength without dominating, presence without a hint of strain." —The Dallas Observer NELLIE FORBUSH IN SOUTH PACIFIC: "Nellie Forbush, played by Cherry Duke, is spunky and exuberant and sang and danced her way into our hearts." —The Daily Progress KERN & FRIENDS CONCERT (CHAUTAUQUA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA) "Mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke took command of [Climb Every Mountain] delivering its inspirational message with power." —The Chautauquan Daily OPERA IN BLUE JEANS CONCERT, NEVADA OPERA "[Cherry] Duke and [John] Pickle were magnetic duetting together projecting a radiant 'Almost Like Being in Love' to a large crowd of listeners so entranced they hoped it just might be true." —Jack Neal's Music Reviews b i o.....rr e s u m e.....rr e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

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