Artist description Soprano Laura Decher is gaining recognition for opera and concert work, singing both traditional and contemporary music. In 2001 she appeared twice with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra singing music by Joaquin Rodrigo and Ludwig Beethoven. Other recent concert work includes the soprano solo in Brahm’s Ein Deutsches Requiem with the San Francisco Choral Society, the soprano solo in Handel's Messiah with the Santa Fe Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Sacramento Choral Society and a world premiere with Amsterdam's Nieuw Ensemble, all receiving critical acclaim. Operatic repertoire includes Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Mimi in La Boheme, Micaela in Carmen, and Beatrice in Berlioz' Beatrice et Benedict. A frequent soloist with Berkeley Opera, she performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Blanche in The Dialogues of the Carmelites, and the title role of Lecocq's La Fille de Madame Angot. In January 2001, Miss Decher performed and recorded 3 new chamber music works written for her by D'Arcy Reynolds, W. Jay Sydeman and her husband, Lawrence Wayte. In February 2001, she gave a concert at Stanford University of the complete Italienisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf with baritone Kenneth Goodson and pianist Laura Dahl. As a mezzo-soprano, Laura performed the role of Hansel in the San Francisco Opera Center's production of Hansel and Gretel, and sang the title role in Berkeley Opera's The Riot Grrrl on Mars, an adaptation of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri. Other former opera roles include the title role of La Cenerentola, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti. Also a frequent cover at San Francisco Opera, she sang the role of the Page in Rigoletto. Miss Decher was the 2001 NATS Regional Winner in Los Angeles; a 2000 Winner of the Pasadena Opera Guild Vocal Prize; a National Finalist in the 1999 Loren L. Zachary Society Young Artist Vocal Competition; Grand Prize Winner of the 1998 San Francisco Concerto Orchestra International Vocal Competition; and a finalist in the 1999 Western Region Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, the 1998 Portland Opera Eleanor Lieber Awards, and the 1997 Pacific Region Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. She was a regional winner in the 1998 and 1999 McAllister Awards. Laura is looking forward to singing Micaela in Carmen for Nevada Opera and to giving recitals in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Burlington, Vermont, and Bellevue, Washington in 2002. Originally from Seattle and a former newspaper reporter for the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, Laura graduated with a Master's Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Opera Performance.

Music Style opera and art song

Location Los Angeles, California - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).