Biography
Dana Schnitzer, hailed as a "sweet-voiced soprano" by the New York Times, is a sought-after performer of opera, oratorio and art song. Most recently she sang the role of Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte with Commonwealth Opera, as well as the role of Giannetta and cover of Adina in L’elisir d’amore as part of the prestigious Caramoor Festival in New York. Before her work at Caramoor, Ms. Schnitzer sang the title role in Handel’s Alcina and the role of Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, both with the Boston Opera Collaborative, and the role of La Princesse in L’enfant et les sortiléges with MetroWest Opera. With PORTopera in 2008, she covered Juliette in Romeo et Juliette and sang Madame Pompous in Too Many Sopranos. In the winter of 2008 Ms. Schnitzer sang Dido in Dido and Aeneas, and Lola in Gallantry, both with MetroWest Opera. Other recent operatic experience includes the role of Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow at the Quisisana Music Festival, the roles of Suor Angelica (cover) and the Nursing Sister in Suor Angelica with Mass Theatrica, the Mother in Hansel and Gretel with the Boston Opera Collaborative, and Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Commonwealth Opera Company as well as the Janiec Opera Company/Brevard Music Center. At the New England Conservatory, she was featured in the roles of Noemie in Cendrillon and First Lady in The Magic Flute.
Highlights of her oratorio solo and art song career include the Brahms Requiem with Brookline Chorus, the Mendelssohn St. Paul with the Braintree Choral Society, the Mahler Rückertlieder with the Philharmonic Society of Arlington, Schubert’s Mass in G, M. Haydn’s Requiem, and the Mozart Vespers K. 321, all with the Concert Singers of Lynn, Handel’s Messiah and the Fauré Requiem with Masterworks Chorale, and the Bach B minor mass with the Belmont Orchestra.
Ms. Schnitzer has participated in numerous summer opera programs including the Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artist Program in 2009, the PORTopera Emerging Artists Program in 2008, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2007, the Quisisana Festival in 2006, the Brevard Music Center in 2005, The Atlantic Coast Opera Festival in 2004, and the Florence Voice Seminar in Italy in 2003. No stranger to vocal competitions, Ms. Schnitzer was a finalist in the lieder division of the 2009 Liederkranz Competition in NYC. She won first place in the Philharmonic Society of Arlington Young Artist Competition in April 2007. In 2006, she was a Boston District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition, and second place winner of the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition in Belmont, MA. She was a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Competition in 2005, and won first place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, Boston, in both 2004 and 2005.
Exciting upcoming engagements include understudying the role of Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Opera Boston, singing the soprano solos in the Bach Magnificat and the Mozart Requiem with the Choral Art Society, as well as the soprano solos in the Bach B Minor Mass with Brookline Chorus.
Ms. Schnitzer is a native of Westchester, NY. She received her MM in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory in 2005 and her BM in Voice Performance from UMASS Amherst in 2003. She currently studies privately with Penelope Bitzas.