Rochelle Bard,
Soprano

*McCann Fellow

Now entering her second year residency with the company, Rochelle Bard will perform the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda (Rigoletto), and Pamina (The Magic Flute) during the 2007 - 2008 season.

In May 2007, Ms. Bard won First Place in the Classical Singer Magazine's Annual Competition, and will be featured in a full-length article that will appear in the magazine. As a result of the competition, Ms. Bard also received a lead contract with Sacramento Opera for their 2008 - 2009 season. She was most recently invited to the Semi-Finals of the Seoul International Music Competition in Korea, where she will compete with singers from 16 different countries for two weeks in November.

Ms. Bard made her Opera San José debut as a principal artist of OSJ's resident company in the roles of Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Violetta (La traviata) and Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) during the 2006 - 2007 season. In 2005, Ms. Bard was a Studio Artist with Baltimore Opera where she sang the roles of Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) and Giannetta (L’Elisir d’Amore) as well as covered the roles of the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) and Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann). Other performances include Gilda (Rigoletto) with Cape Cod Opera, Anna Maurant (Street Scene) with Maine Grand Opera, the title role in The Merry Widow with New England Light Opera, Louise (La Vie Parisienne) with Opera Boston, Antonia (The Tales of Hoffman) with Longwood Opera and Cunegonde (Candide) with the New England Conservatory of Music. As a vocal fellow at Tanglewood, Ms. Bard performed a lead role in an acclaimed world premiere opera, Rage d’Amours, commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Bard was recently named a Winner in the George London Foundation Competition, Classical Singer Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, and the San Francisco Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards. She was also a National Finalist in the prestigious MacAllister Awards and the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Competition.

For more information, please visit Ms. Bard's website: http://www.rochellebard.com/.

*Ms. Bard's artist residency is made possible in part by a Fellowship Grant from Jeanne McCann.