Helena Brown
In the 2014–2015 season, mezzo-soprano Helena Brown made her European debut as Serena and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess with New York Harlem Productions, appearing in theaters such as Grand Théâtre de Genève, Chassé Theater and Amsterdam RAI. She also performed Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring with Bronx Opera, Erda in Siegfried with New York Opera Forum and covered Grandmother Buryjovka in Jenůfa with Des Moines Metro Opera, where she also appeared in scenes concerts as Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Martha in Faust and Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin. With Bronx Opera, she sang the alto solo in her first Messiah. Last season at Chautauqua Opera Festival she performed the Aunt in an English translation of Madama Butterfly, covered Mama McCourt in The Ballad of Baby Doe and sang Ježibaba in scenes from Rusalka, and with New York Opera Exchange she performed as Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte.
As a master’s student at Manhattan School of Music Helena Brown performed the roles of the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, Klementia in Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, Madame Halitiere in Cendrillon, Queen Jezebel and an Angel in Elijah, and in scenes concerts played Martha in Faust, Leonora in La favorita and Erste Magd in Elektra. She also appeared at Crittenden Opera Festival as La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica and as Marcellina in scenes from Le nozze di Figaro.
No stranger to contemporary music, Helena Brown has premiered art song compositions and principal roles in opera and theater. Recently, she collaborated with Rebecca Erin Smith premiering the song cycle, Feast, for Pierrot Ensemble at Manhattan School of Music, and sang Joseph Beckwith’s cycle Chandhok Poetry in a world premiere at the New York Opera Exchange. She performed the actor-singer role of Mother in Bellocq’s Ophelia, written by U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, presented at the Kennedy Center, and the title role in Miss Lucy, a folk opera composed by renowned jazz pianist William Penn with Tom Ohmsen. Helena Brown holds a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in Music, summa cum laude, from Hollins University, where she also studied arts management and theater.
