"Blessed with innate musicianship and a most rare, natural and extraordinarily rich vocal instrument. . . her generous and constructive spirit always makes working with her a pleasure."
Soprano Bianca Showalter, originally from Western Colorado, has performed in several venues across the San Francisco Bay Area including Goat Hall Productions, Capitol Opera Sacramento, the Green Music Festival, Project Applause, Cinnabar Opera Theater, Kent Nagano's Leather Factory Opera, West Bay Opera, Sonoma City Opera, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, and the Sonoma County Choral Society. In addition to her performances in the Bay Area, Bianca made her debut in Seattle Washington with the world renowned Northwest Puppet Center as Mozart's Queen of the Night.
A graduate of Sonoma State University where she was the recipient of the prestigious Person Talent Scholarship award, her operatic roles include Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide, Madame Armfeldt in Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Constanza in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, and Holy Spirit in John Partridge's Harden Not Your Hearts. Locally, Ms. Showalter has been a soloist in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Mark Alburger's Ecclesiastes, and W.A. Mozart's Requiem.
Ms. Showalter has been the recipient of many awards including Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2004, First Place Winner in the Redwood Empire NATS Vocal Scholarship Competition also in 2004, and a special Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions San Francisco District in 2007.
Ms Showalter studies with soprano Susan Witt-Butler in Sonoma County and has recently began studying with renowned soprano Sheri Greenawald.
REVIEWS
Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte
“The Queen is magnificent . . . in two fiendishly difficult arias, sung with apparent ease by Showalter.†--Philippa Kiraly – Seattle Post-Intelligencer (May 16, 2005)
Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte
“ . . . soul-stirring vocals . . . The puppets have an advantage performing demanding arias: When the Queen of the Night reaches into the stratosphere to hit those famous high notes, her neck pops up a few extra inches to help her along. Soprano Bianca Showalter, in front of the stage, sang the nuanced role with much less fuss.†--Sheila Farr and Paul Dorpat – The Seattle Times (May 17, 2005)
Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide
"Had one never heard the work before, one would have had good reason to believe that "Glitter and Be Gay" was written especially for Bianca Showalter!" --Dr. Jeff Langley - Composer and Chair of Performing Arts at Sonoma State University (January, 2005)
Esther in Opelousas Sisters
". . .[Bianca's] singing of I Know What it's Like was the highlight of the show. It's a lovely song, and [she] sang it with such heartfelt simplicity that it was quite moving." --Adrian Elfenbaum - Director and Playwright (June 25, 2006)
Project Applause Bel Canto Concert
"Eva Maas and Bianca Showalter . . . wowed the crowd with their Duettino Sull'aria from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro."
--Kaaron Carver - The Community Voice (March 29, 2007)
Halfway Mark Concert with San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
"Ecclesiastes, Op. 3 (1975), quickly followed, with a dynamic solo by soprano Bianca Showalter and the celebration was off with a bang . . ." --21st Century Music publication. "Halfway all the Way" by Ken Bullock (June, 2007)
