Biography
Soprano Bonnie Blackwell began her operatic journey over 10 years ago when she first started studying classical voice as a sophomore in High school. It did not take much time for her to realize that her desire to pursue opera wasn’t a desire at all, but a necessity. She is currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio after earning her Master of Music degree at the University of Alabama where she worked with Dr. David Tayloe and the University of Alabama Opera Theatre (UAOT) during her time with UAOT she was seen as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, and Casilda in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers. Bonnie was a Grand Prize winner of the University of Alabama Concerto/Aria Competition and performed Beethoven's Ah! Perfido, under the Baton of Ransom Wilson with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra. In the Summer of 2024 She was cast as Countess Ceprano in Druid City Opera's Production of Rigoletto. She Covered Gilda during that production as well. She earned both her Diploma and her Bachelor of Music at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, in May of 2016 and 2020 respectively under the guidance of Professor Glenn Siebert. She was a member of the Piedmont Opera chorus from 2018-2021 when she was based in Winston Salem and in October 2021 she was able to make her role debut with the company as Suor Dolcina in Sour Angelica. Her opera chorus appearances include productions of Pirates of Penzance, La Bohème, L’elisir d’amore, and Maria Stuarda. While at UNCSA She performed Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo e Eurydice in 2018 and as The Third Knitter in Seymour Barab’s A Game of Chance in 2019. As an undergraduate student she has been seen in two AJ Fletcher Opera Institute productions as part of the chorus: La clemenza di Tito in 2020 and Florencia en el Amazonas in 2017. Looking back she would choose performing in the Street Chorus of UNCSA’s 2018 Main Stage production of Bernstein’s MASS as the opportunity with the biggest impact. She was featured as the soloist who sang “Hurry.” Her experiences outside of school have included performances such as the featured Young Artist for Music for a Great Space and as a featured soloist for The English Speaking Union of Guilford County. She has been featured a soloist in UNCSA Cantata Singers concerts as well as at Home Moravian Church where she was the Soprano Section Leader and is still a member. Bonnie was named an Encouragement award winner for the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition at the 2024 New Orleans district competition and has won two national titles in other vocal competitions thus far; Third Place nationally in 2018 at the National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Student Auditions in the Lower College Women’s division, and Third place nationally in 2016 at Classical Singer in the High School division. Bonnie believes that music has an incredible power to connect people and strives to use her voice to do just that.
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Header Photo by André Peele