Cherry Duke

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March 2008

Hailed by the press as a "radiant and confident" performer, mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke has sung with many of America’s foremost companies. Her roles with New York City Opera, Opera Omaha, Chautauqua Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Connecticut Opera, Virginia Opera, New Orleans Opera and Nevada Opera have earned her the praise and respect of reviewers, music professionals and audience members alike. Cherry’s "striking voice-acting and stage movement" is especially evident in complex leading roles such as Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (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 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.

In May of 2005, Cherry traveled to Japan with NEW YORK CITY OPERA to cover Jo March in Little Women and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She later returned to NYCO for Madama Butterfly and the New York premiere of Mark Adamo’s second opera, Lysistrata.

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. Upcoming engagements include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with the Helena Symphony Orchestra.

A versatile and intelligent singing actress, Cherry is frequently involved in cross-over and brand-new works. She has sung principal parts in the last two seasons of New York City Opera’s VOX: Showcasing American Composers and has thrived in cross-over shows such as Music Theater Group’s The Rose Project and Bard SummerScape’s world premiere of The Blackamoor Angel. As well, Cherry’s versatility was showcased in her portrayal of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific (Ash Lawn Opera Festival). "Nellie Forbush, played by Cherry Duke, is spunky and exuberant and sang and danced her way into our hearts." (The Daily Progress)

In concert, Cherry Duke has performed with the Helena Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Ventura Chamber Music Festival and San Bernadino Symphony Orchestra. At Carnegie Hall she has sung solos in Handel’s Messiah (conducted by John Rutter), Beethoven’s Mass in C and Schubert’s Mass in B-flat. Cherry has also performed solos in Falla's El Amor Brujo, Bach’s B-Minor Mass and Weihnachts-Oratorium, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan-Williams’ Magnificat and Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, and several orchestral "Pops" concerts.

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 makes her home in New York City.

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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

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Cherry Duke, mezzo-soprano