Cree Carrico is a vocal soloist heard on the Digital Short The West is a Land of Infinite Beginnings (2021).

Soprano Cree Carrico is “a notably versatile performer” and “sensational actress” who is continuously praised by critics for her “crystal clarity at the center of every note” making it “hard to watch anyone else when she’s on stage.” As a lead interpreter of 20th and 21st century works, Carrico collaborates closely with a number of composers and librettists and performs in many premières of contemporary pieces, including the New York première of Jake Heggie’s monodrama At the Statue of Venus.  Since then, Carrico has sang Lisa in Little and Vavrek’s Dog Days at the Opera America New Works Forum and has also performed on Royce Vavrek and Lauren Worsham’s 21st century downtown salon, The Coterie. Additionally, during BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Cree appeared on both nights of Beth Morrison’s 21c Liederabend, op. 3, singing Julian Wachner’s Come My Dark Eyed One, and sang the world première of Marie Incontrera and Royce Vavrek’s Albert, Bound or Unbound.  More recently she has created the roles of Zegner Daughter, Littler in the world première of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up with Opera Omaha and subsequently at The Miller Theater in New York, and made her Fort Worth Opera début as Rosemary Kennedy in the world première of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK, with subsequent performances with Montreal Opera.

This season, Carrico performs as Anna in Tintypes with Artistree’s Music Theater Festival, Younger Alyce in Glory Denied with Kentucky Opera and Urban Arias at the Keegan Theater in DC and as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with Opera Tampa.  Last season, Carrico reprised the role of Beatrice in Three Decembers with Nashville Opera, sang Adele in Die Fledermaus with Opera Tampa, the role La Fee in Cendrillon with Opera Company of Middlebury, Musetta in La bohèmewith Union Avenue Opera, and performed My Fair Lady: in Concert with the Utah Symphony.

Additionally, Carrico performed as a soloist Carmina Burana with Trinity Wall Street, in a recital with Boonville Missouri River Festival, in Manhattan School of Music’s Centennial Celebrations Recital Series, performed as a soloist in Stray Bird with the New Chamber Ballet, performed as a soloist in a concert celebrating The Muny’s 100th season with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Women in Opera’s Backstage Brunch with Opera America, and in American Lyric Theater’s workshop of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant.  She also performed in Morning Star with On Site Opera and Younger Alyce in Memphis Opera’s production of Glory Denied. Other engagements included the role of Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire with Opera Company of Middlebury and Beatrice in Three Decembers with Opera Memphis.

Additional operatic engagements include Gilda in Rigoletto with Syracuse Opera, Adele in Die Fledermaus with Finger Lakes Opera, Diana in Orpheus in the Underworld with New Orleans Opera, Amour in Orphée et Eurydice and Sagredo/Eos in Galileo Galilei with Des Moines Metro Opera.

A member of Actor’s Equity, Cree earned her union card as an ensemble member in the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, sharing the stage with Nathan Gunn, Kelli O’Hara, and Stephanie Blythe. She was also seen in Carnegie Hall’s one-night-only performance of Guys & Dolls, starring Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally. Previous musical theatre roles include both Fraulein Kost and Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, Celeste I/Harriett in Sunday in the Park with George, and the ensembles of Ragtime and Jesus Christ Superstar. During her final semester at Oberlin, Cree played Comrade Charlotte in Flora, the Red Menace, working closely with the legendary John Kander on a new version of the musical.

Carrico added the demanding title role in Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, in her performance with Chautauqua Opera, to her growing repertoire of 20th and 21st centuries leading ladies. She made her New York début as Marie Antoinette in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles while earning her Master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music. For her performance as the anti-heroine Jenny Smith in Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt MahagonnyThe New York Times extolled her “wounded smoothness.”

Unphased by the intimacy of solo performance, Cree created The Ophelia Project, a daring and ever-evolving program of songs, arias and monologues that bends the boundaries of a traditional recital to explore the psychology of Shakespeare’s tragic heroine. The Ophelia Project was chosen to inaugurate Opera America’s Emerging Artist Recital Series at the National Opera Center in October 2013.

In addition to her contemporary repertoire, Cree performed the soprano solos in Messiah with New Mexico Philharmonic, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with The Brearley Singers at Alice Tully Hall, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra. Additional roles include Haydn’s Mariazeller Messe for Mid-America Productions at Carnegie Hall and the title role of Evangeline in Concert with Longfellow Chorus.

Cree received a Bachelor’s of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Master’s of Music from Manhattan School of Music. She was a finalist in the Ades Competition, the Lotte Lenya Competition and the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

Learn more at CreeCarrico.com.