Stephanie Weiss
Mezzo soprano, Voice Coordinator
Teaching Philosophy
Learning to sing and honing one’s craft as an artist is a very personal and unique journey for every singer. I meet each singer where they are in their vocal and artistic journey and ask both what their summer goals are and where they hope to be going on their career path. I encourage singers to continue to find their unique, free, and healthy sound by working on breath management and resonance, as well as using the texts we are given to energize vocal production through emotion and storytelling. During the weeks we have together at AIMS, I hope to build on the knowledge each singer has and add tools to their ever-growing toolbox. Using all their tools, I guide them through their current repertoire, while also giving ideas for new repertoire, to help them reach their next artistic goal, whether that be singing on a master class, performing their degree recital, singing in a choir, or auditioning at a major European opera house.
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Stephanie Weiss, mezzo-soprano, is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts School of Music. She earned her Bachelor of Music from New England Conservatory (voice), Bachelor of Science from Tufts University (biology and drama), Master of Music from University of Missouri-Kansas City, Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes College of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Previously, she was Assistant Professor of Voice at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a Teaching Fellow with the Metropolitan Opera Education Department, and has served on the faculty of COSI (Centre for Opera Studies in Italy) in Sulmona, Italy. Since 2010, she has been on the voice faculty at AIMS in Graz.
A San Diego native, she was a Midwest Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and at Mannes College of Music, a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. As the winner of the American Berlin Opera Foundation Competition (now called Opera Foundation), she became a member of Deutsche Oper Berlin as a Stipendiatin and continues to be a regular guest artist with the company. Roles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin have included Frasquita (Carmen), Musetta (La bohème), Erste Dame and Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Gerhilde and Grimgerde (Die Walküre), and Schlafittchen (Berlin premiere of Das Traumfresserchen), Marianne Leitmetzerin (Der Rosenkavalier), Aufseherin (Elektra), Johanna [cover] (Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna), and Venus [cover] (Tannhäuser) in the company’s tour to Beijing.
In the U.S., her most recent appearances have included the Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas) with Opera Company of Middlebury, Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) with Opera Las Vegas, and Marianne Leitmetzerin (Der Rosenkavalier) and Giannetta in L´elisir d´amore with the San Diego Opera.
On the concert stage, she debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic as the Cook in Le Rossignol under the baton of Pierre Boulez. She has also sung the role of Rose in Lakmé at Carnegie Hall with Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler. She performed Wesendonck Lieder with the Henderson Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Symphony No. 4 with the L’viv Philharmonic (Ukraine), and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana with Singakademie Potsdam.
A versatile performer, she has also been seen on other European stages, such as Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) and Marthe (Faust), Oper Frankfurt as Musetta, Oper Leipzig as Grimgerde (Die Walküre) and Stadttheater Bern, Oper Dortmund, and Oper Köln as Marianne Leitmetzerin. Other notable performances have included Venus in Tannhäuser with Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, and the title role of Johanna in Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna by Walter Braunfels at Oper Köln.