Contralto Meredith Arwady hails from Kalamazoo, Michigan. She is currently in her third year of the Master of Music Opera Program at The Curtis Institute of Music where she studies voice with faculty member Marlena Kleinman Malas. Ms. Arwady graduated from Hope College in Holland, Michigan with a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature. While at Hope, she performed in Fiddler on the Roof, A Comedy of Errors, Cole (a musical revue about Cole Porter), and in various theater scenes, playing a wide range of roles from a five-year-old to an over-the-hill Elvis worshiper. Ms. Arwady appeared twice with the Hope College Orchestra as the winner of the Concerto Aria Competition, and also participated in opera workshop scenes in which she sang the roles of Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro and the Prioress in Dialogues of the Carmelites.
Ms. Arwady spent five summers at the Chautauqua Institution, performing Madame Flora in The Medium, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Mrs. Peachum in Threepenny Opera, Mother in L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and Madame de Quimper Karadec in La Vie Parisienne. At Curtis, Ms. Arwady has performed Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea, the Baroness in Vanessa, Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress, and Maman in L’Enfant et les sortilèges. This past season, she also played Schwertleite in Die Walküre for New Orleans Opera. As part of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Ms. Arwady performed the role of Meg Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor. This year she will be performing Mother in The Consul and Zita in Gianni Schicchi.
Ms. Arwady is the recipient of a 2002 Sara Tucker Grant and a winner of the 2002 Licia Albanese/Puccini Competition.
Meredith Arwady