Biography

Mezzo-soprano Cynthia Munzer has sung over twenty roles    in 223 performances with the Metropolitan Opera, both in New York at the Lincoln    Center and on tour in the United States and Japan. Audiences across America    have come to know her through the weekly Metropolitan Opera Saturday Broadcasts    and over 20 Met Opera recordings with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherill Milnes, Placido    Domingo, Joan Sutherland, Monserrat Caballé, Alfredo Kraus, Franco Corelli,    Birgit Nilsson and Renata Scotto. 

Broadcast performances have included the Metropolitan Opera    Premiere of Alban Berg's Lulu, new productions of Bellini's I Puritani    and Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, and revivals of Strauss' Salome    and Ariadne auf Naxos, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Faust,    and Wagner's Die Walküre. The Metropolitan Opera Gallery of Photos    at Lincoln Center displays Ms. Munzer’s stage photo in its permanent collection.
 

 Ms. Munzer has garnered rave reviews as a leading guest artist with over ninety    other opera companies and major symphony orchestras. The Dallas Opera, New York    City Opera, Washington Opera, L'Opéra de Montréal, Houston Grand    Opera, and Florentine Opera have presented Ms. Munzer in diverse roles such    as Carmen, Cenerentola, Azucena, Amneris, Dame Quickly, Octavian, Olga, Maddalena,    Augusta, and Herodias. The Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Los    Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, American Symphony,    and Hong Kong Philharmonic are among the forty major symphony orchestras with    which she has appeared as guest soloist.

Critically acclaimed concert tours with International Artists    Inc. to Southeast Asia have resulted in re-engagements with the company in Kuala    Lumpur, Singapore, Manila, Jakarta, Penang, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.  

She has been hailed in reviews for opera and oratorio performances    at the renowned Wolftrap Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Carmel Bach Festival,    Oregon Bach Festival, Brattleboro Music Festival and the New York Mozart Bicentennial    Celebration. Other highlights of Ms. Munzer's career include Live from Lincoln    Center broadcasts, vocal concerts at the United Nations, the world premiere    of Gian Carlo Menotti's Mass, performances with such masters as Aaron    Copland, Leopold Stokowski, James Levine and Zubin Mehta, and a special 9/11    Memorial Tribute CD with other Metropolitan Opera artists.

Ms. Munzer is the recipient of the Metropolitan Opera National    Council Audition Shared Top Awards presented on the Met stage in New York City,    and also a Metropolitan Opera Contract National Winner. Other awards include    the Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Award, Gramma Fisher Foundation Award, Goeran    Gentele Award, a Sullivan Foundation Award and Geraldine Farrar Award. She has    received keys to the city of Dallas, Texas, and Binghamton, New York, in honor    of her artistry.

Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Ms. Munzer is a graduate    of the University of Kansas. She continued her postgraduate studies with Roy    Henderson of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and with former Metropolitan    Opera Mezzo Herta Glaz of the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Currently    an Associate Professor Emerita at the Flora    L. Thornton School of Music, the University of Southern California, Ms.    Munzer has taught and presented master classes in Italy at the Accademia Italiana    di Canto in Toscana and the International Lyric Academy, Tuscia Opera Festival    in Lazio. She has founded and directed the International Vocal Institute in    Hvar, Croatia and co-directed master classes at the Pacific Vocal Institute,    part of Bard To Broadway Theatre, Inc. on Vancouver Island, BC. Her students    have been winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, among    other competitions, and have appeared in several renowned young artist programs:    The Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Young Artist Program, Chautauqua Opera, Virginia    Opera, and San Diego Opera. Other students have made solo debuts with the Berlin    Opera, New York City Opera and the Royal Opera House in London.

Sought after as a master clinician Miss Munzer has within the    last several years presented master classes for The Metropolitan Opera National    Council Auditions in Tucson, AZ, Salt Lake City, UT, St. Paul, MN, Seattle,    WA, Vancouver, BC, as well as the Metropolitan Opera Guild Education Series    in New York City, the Manhattan School of Music (NYC), The Schubert Club Song    Festival in Minneapolis/St. Paul, the National Association of Teachers of Singing    Intern Program, NY and Los Angeles and the Spotlight Awards Master Class at    The Dorothy Chandler and Disney Hall, LA.

She has presented celebrity master classes at the Classical    Singer Magazine Convention in New York and Los Angeles. University master classes    include Notre Dame University, Indiana University, Brown University, State University    of New York, Kent State University, and UCLA. Ms. Munzer has expanded her master    classes to several countries and cities: Graz, Austria; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore;    Hong Kong; Shanghai, China; Paris, France; Hvar, Croatia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;    Manila, Philippines; Vancouver Island, BC; Monte Carlo and Viterbo, Italy; Guadalajara,    Mexico; and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.