Mezzo-Soprano, Melisa Bonetti, has been hailed by Opera today as “a warm, supple mezzo that struck all the right impressions” and as “commanding a wonderful presence in the lower middle voice but also easily soaring heavenward with a well-schooled top.” Ms. Bonetti’s 2017 season proves to be exciting and diverse as it ranges from the premiere of a new opera to Mozart engagements. Melisa will perform as Tyler in the premiere of Three Way in a collaboration with Nashville Opera and American Opera Projects, first in Nashville and then at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this Summer. Melisa is excited to cover Carmen with Nashville Opera while still performing the role of Mercedes, which she will follow with a different production of Carmen with Opera Columbus, also in the role of Mercedes.

Melisa recently was awarded second place in the 2016 American Prize Competition in the Woman’s Professional Division of Art Song and Oratorio. Other upcoming engagements include Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Queen City Opera, the Mezzo soloist with the Dayton Philharmonic for Mozart’s Requiem & The Sleeping Giant (a modern ending to the unfinished work), followed by Dalila cover Samson et Dalila, Wowkle Fanciulla Del West, Hermia & Hippolyta covers Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Alisa Lucia di Lammermoor, all with Virginia Opera.

Most recent engagements from 2016 include Maria Maddalena and Scribe Galileo Galilei with Des Moines Metro Opera, Flora La Traviata with the Shippensburg Festival, Mezzo soloist for Mozart’s Requiem with Collegium Cincinnati, soloist for Dayton Opera’s Season Opening Spectacular “Viva La France,” Emilia in Otello, Mezzo soloist in OperaCadabra with Cincinnati Opera, Lillith Dracula; Bloodlines Dayton Ballet and Opera, and Abuela La Vida Breve with Cincinnati Chamber Opera. Other performed roles include Isabela La Hija de Rappaccini, Lorca Ainadamar, Marcellina Le Nozze di Figaro, Clare A Woman in Morocco, Wowkle La Fanciulla del West, Mexican Flower Woman Streecar Named Desire, Emelda Champion, Maddalena Rigoletto, Lady with a Hat Box Postcard from Morocco, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte, and the Old Lady Candide.

Concert performances include Messiah, El Amor Brujo, Britten’s Spring Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Vivaldi Gloria & Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony No.1. Since completing her Master’s in voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, she has also worked with Kentucky Opera, the Lexington Philharmonic, the Queens Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera, and I Sing Beijing. She completed her undergraduate degree at Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music in New York.