Lyric soprano, Rochelle Bard, has been recognized by audiences and critics alike as a most promising singing actress. She was most recently named a winner in the George London Foundation Competition and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition. She subsequently had her Lincoln Center debut in Alice Tully Hall at the Annual Puccini Gala. This year, she was also a San Francisco Regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards.

Ms. Bard is currently a Resident artist with Opera San Jose, where she was an acclaimed success as Juliette in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Violetta in La Traviata. In April, Ms Bard will debut as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Opera San Jose. In 2005, Ms. Bard was engaged as a Studio Artist with the Baltimore Opera Company, where she sang roles in Les Nozze di Figaro and L'Elisir d'Amore, as well as covered Giulietta in Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

As Juliette with Opera San Jose, Ms. Bard was described as having a "spinning lyric tone" and was the "biggest sensation of the evening." She was quoted to have been the "fullest, richest and strongest soprano head in many a year." Most recently, her performances as Violetta in La Traviata proved to be an exciting debut. For what may be her quintessential role, Ms. Bard has been praised for having the complete Violetta package including appearance, acting, and vocal strength and flexibility. She is quoted as being "stunningly poignant" with "beauty and exquisite femininity" and a "powerful and creamy coloratura soprano voice that seared the audience's consciousness."

Anna Crebo of the Cape Cod Times offered praise for her performance of Gilda in Rigoletto in concert with Cape Code Opera by saying, "Her exquisitely wrought rendition of 'Caro Nome' left little to be desired musically or dramatically. Besides possessing a voice with a lilting, lyric quality, the young soprano can deliver a coloratura range of notes with finesse and unerring pitch." For her performance as the title role in the Merry Widow with New England Light Opera, Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe declared: "Rachelle Bard displayed a gift for broad comedy and d crystalline soprano that turns sweeter the higher it goes." Other opera credits include singing Louise in La Vie Parisienne with Opera Boston, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann with Longwood Opera, and Cunegonde in Candide with the New England Conservatory of Music. As a vocal fellow at Tanglewood, Ms. Bard performed a lead role in an acclaimed world premiere opera commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times called her performance of Juana, in Rage d'Amours, a "standout" and a quote from The New Yorker read that she "sang beautifully."

Ms. Bard has scored recent successes in competitions including being named a Winner in the George London Foundation Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, and the Metropolitan National Council Awards (San Francisco and New England Regions), as well as a Finalist in the MacAllister Awards, the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Competition, the Classical Singer Convention Competition, and the New Jersey Verismo Opera Competition.

Ms. Bard is originally from Worcester, MA, where she received a BA in Biology Premed from the College of Holy Cross. She was trained as a pianist and accompanied singers before finding her own classical voice. She received her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance with Academic Honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. Ms. Bard is a sought-after concert artist as well, with recent performances of Carmina Burana, Mozart Requiem, Mendelssohn Eliza, Faure Requiem, and the Poulenc Gloria.

Website: www.RochelleBard.com