Mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke has performed with many of America’s foremost opera companies, including NEW YORK CITY OPERA, CHAUTAUQUA OPERA, GLIMMERGLASS OPERA, CONNECTICUT OPERA, VIRGINIA OPERA, NEW ORLEANS OPERA, and the METROPOLITAN OPERA Guild. She has sung the title roles in Hansel and Gretel and Carmen as well as Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Nancy in Albert Herring, Mercédès in Carmen, Friederike in Ein Walzertraum, the Bat and the Bergère in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Zulma in L’italiana in Algeri. Especially adept at  pants roles, in addition to Hansel, Cherry has sung Stephano in Romeo et Juliette, Enrico in Rossini’s Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Additionally, at NEW YORK CITY OPERA she covered Anna in Strauss’ Intermezzo as well as Moppet and Poppet, the rollerskating lumbercamp cats in the nationally televised production of Paul Bunyan. A Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions New York District Winner, Cherry is the recipient of many awards, including the Grand Prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Young Artist Competition and the Liederkranz Foundation Voice Competition. Equally at home on the concert stage, Cherry has performed with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, the HARTFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORALE, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the San Bernadino Symphony Orchestra among others. She has sung solos in Beethoven’s Mass in C, Schubert’s Mass in B-flat at Carnegie Hall as well as the complete Messiah, Bach’s B-Minor Mass and Weihnachts-Oratorium, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan-Williams’ Magnificat and Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, as well as several orchestral Pops concerts. Notably, Cherry’s performance career has involved bringing opera to thousands of children. She has performed over 250 performances of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in elementary schools nationwide as well as various other operas and “variety” shows geared toward introducing young people to opera. An experienced voice teacher in the junior high, high school and college levels, Cherry also conducts workshops for young performers on vocal presentation, stage presence and self-confidence. This Fort Worth, Texas native received her undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance from Texas Woman’s University where she studied with the prolific pedagogy and diction text author Joan Wall. Cherry received her graduate degree in Opera from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford where she studied with Trish McCaffrey. 

For more information on Ms. Duke's performance career, please visit her web site http://www.cherryduke.com/