Rimrock Opera Performer -- Alissa Rose

Alissa Rose

Billings native Alissa Rose’s multi-faceted career has taken her around the United States and abroad. She recently completed her Doctor of Music Arts at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey. She has appeared several times with Rimrock Opera, singing Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and the Shepherd Boy in Tosca, and has been seen in concert with the Billings Symphony, singing Haydn’s Creation and in the 2007 Symphony in the Park concert. Ms. Rose spent three years in Germany, where she sang at the State Theaters in Osnabrück, Münster, and Bielefeld, as well as singing with the West German Radio Chorus. Roles she has performed include Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Frasquita (Carmen), Célie in Pasatieri's Signor Deluso, Belinda and the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Esmeralda in Prodaná nevĕsta (The Bartered Bride), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), the Sand Man and Dew Fairy (Hänsel und Gretel), and Berenice in L’occasione fa il ladro (Rossini). Her performance of Célie in Signor Deluso was released on Albany Records in 2006.

Modern music has played an important role in Ms. Rose’s career, and she has sung roles in three world premieres of operas. She made her Carnegie Hall debut last year as a soloist with the American Composers Orchestra in the world premiere of Myrrha, by Kristin Kuster, and has premiered or sung second performances of many modern song cycles, including music composed for her. She sang with Ensemble Horizonte, a contemporary music ensemble, while in Germany, and has sung with Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Oberlin Wind Ensemble in modern works. Her concert appearances have included many earlier works as well, such as Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and the Haydn Little Organ Mass and Creation. She has appeared as a soloist with such diverse ensembles as the American Composers Orchestra, BachWorks, the Billings Symphony Orchestra, the Battle Creek Symphony, and the Bielefelder Philharmonie. A Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Rose has been a finalist in several competitions.

Ms. Rose holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College (Biochemistry), the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, in Germany, and the University of Michigan.