Una voce poco fa: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
Abi Levis, mezzo-soprano
February 2024
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Named “Debut Artist of the Year” by the Joy in Singing Foundation, Mezzo-Soprano Abi Levis is quickly being recognized as an exciting singer of immense talent, with critics around the world describing her artistry as “fearless”, “dazzling”, “impressive”, and “breathtaking”. During the 2023-2024 season, Ms. Levis joined LA Opera to cover Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and sang Frida Image #1 in El ultimo sueño de Frida y Diego. Additionally, she made her concert debut with the Brooklyn Art Song Society to perform Britten's Cabaret Songs. Additional exciting season engagements include portraying Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible with Opera in the Pines and joining MUSE/IQUE as a soloist in their performances of Plenty of Heart, Plenty of Hope: The Making of Oklahoma! and the Modern Musical.
In the previous season, Ms. Levis sang the roles of the Officer’s Wife/Martha in The Secret Garden with Hawaii Opera Theater, joined the Portland Baroque Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah and returned to Promfest Estonia as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon. In 2021-2022, Ms. Levis appeared as Annio in La clemenza di Tito with Angers Nantes Opéra, debuted as Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Lakes Area Music Festival, and reprised her signature role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Intermountain Opera Bozeman. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Levis saw the cancellation of major debuts with San Francisco Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Overseas, Ms. Levis has joined Deutsche Oper Berlin in roles such as Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Siébel in Faust, Mercédès in Carmen and Dido in Dido and Aeneas. She has also performed with the Luzerner Theater as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice. Other recent operatic highlights include Cherubino (Florentine Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Utah Opera); Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Promfest Estonia, Opera Sofia, Kaunas State Opera); Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus (Utah Opera), Rose and Dina in a double bill of At the Statue of Venus and Trouble in Tahiti (Opera Parallèle); Testo/Memory 3 in War Stories (Opera Philadelphia) and Flora in La traviata (Dallas Opera).
On the concert platform, Ms. Levis has appeared as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, Cincinnati Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Flint Symphony, Symphonie Atlantique, American Symphony Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston and Utah Symphony. She is a core member of the acclaimed Mirror Visions Ensemble, a gifted collective of artists who are passionate about storytelling through the art of song.
Ms. Levis excels in a variety of musical styles from baroque to contemporary music, from opera to musical theater. Passionate about new music, she has worked closely with composers such as John Harbison, John Musto, Brian Suits, Tamzin Elliot, Juliana Hall, and Michael Hirsch.
A veteran in the competition circuit, Ms. Levis has won prizes from the Gerda Lissner Competitions (Song and Opera), Sullivan Foundation, Vero Beach Opera Competition, McCammon Competition, James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Competition and the Joy in Singing Competition, among others. She was also named a finalist in the Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition, Mildred Miller International Vocal Competition and Cesti Baroque Competition, and a semi-finalist in the George London Competition, Opera Index Competition, Loren L. Zachary Competition and Operalia.
As a Young Artist, she performed with Los Angeles Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Utah Opera/Utah Symphony, The Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, and Songfest. Ms. Levis holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and Bard College.