AUDREY BABCOCK
MEZZO-SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Genre-bending mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock has captivated audiences worldwide with her mesmerizing performances and versatile vocal and dramatic range, establishing herself as a compelling interpreter in the world of opera. Her exceptional ability to embody character and her passion for craft have earned her a place among the most esteemed vocalists of her generation. Most recently, Audrey returned to Utah Opera for Mrs. Lovett in their production of Sweeney Todd, sang Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana with Opera Orlando, and her made directorial début staging Carmen for Opera Memphis. Additional recent appearances include her role début as Amneris in Aida and Mrs. Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Utah Festival, Laura Huxley in Huxley’s Last Ride with The LSD Opera in Los Angeles, and Flora in Opera Omaha’s La Traviata. The 2025-2026 season brings her multi-layered Carmen to Charlottesville Opera, a return to Anchorage Opera and the role of Amneris in Aida, and an appearance with the South Dakota Symphony for Da Falla’s Three Cornered Hat.
Dedicated to contemporary works, Audrey recently débuted the roles of Toledo in Redler/Dye’s new work The Falling and Rising with Arizona Opera and Opera Carolina, Nica in Yardbird with Seattle Opera, and Eva in An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, and she has worked closely with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Ellen Reid and Jorge Sosa. As a producer, writer, and creator, her projects Lily; her life, his music — the story of a queer Jewish heroine who escapes Nazi Germany, told through the music of Kurt Weill — and Beyond Carmen, with flamenco guitarist Andres Vadin, provide audiences an evening of compelling, thought-provoking storytelling with sensational presentation. Additional premieres include Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin (NY premiere — Dicapo Opera), With Blood, With Ink (world premiere — Fort Worth Opera), La Reina (American Lyric Theater and Prototype Festival), The Poe Project (American Lyric Theater), and Winter’s Tale (Prototype Festival).
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An accomplished Carmen with more than 200 performances, Ms. Babcock made her French début in the title role with the Festival Lyrique en Mer and has sung it with Florentine Opera, Nashville Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, San Antonio Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Delaware, Toledo Opera, Anchorage Opera, Dayton Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Utah Festival Opera, of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote “Audrey Babcock's performance as Carmen was a spellbinding tour de force...from the moment she took the stage her self-assured characterization was mesmerizing… Babcock's caramel-hued mezzo was a pleasure... her supple tones caressed the notes, radiating earthy allure.” Engaging beyond singing and acting, Ms. Babcock also works as a movement and breath specialist and a dance and fight choreographer skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as weaponry.
On the concert platform, Ms. Babcock has sung Verdi’s Requiem with Dayton Opera, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with the Salastina Society and Norwalk Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Duruflé Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Mass of Life at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony, Berlioz’s Nuit D'ete with the West Virginia Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony, and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the West Virginia Symphony.
Additional career highlights include Maddalena in Rigoletto with Palm Beach Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Tulsa Opera, Florentine Opera, and Nashville Opera, the title role in María de Buenos Aires (San Diego Opera), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Wolf Trap Opera), Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (Opera Santa Barbara), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (New Orleans Opera), Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (Utah Opera, Shreveport Opera, and Lyric Opera of San Diego), Erika in Vanessa (Sarasota Opera), Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte (Spoleto Festival USA), the Secretary in The Consul (Long Beach Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and New Jersey Opera), Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Opera Santa Barbara and Tulsa Opera), Jo in Little Women (Utah Opera and Syracuse Opera), and Mrs. Mister in The Cradle Will Rock (Opera Saratoga), for which a cast recording was released in 2018.
Ms. Babcock is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory with a BM in Voice and the California Institute of the Arts with an MFA in VoiceArts with concentrations in Producing and Dramaturgy, and she has a certification in Somatic Voice Work™ the LoVetri Method. She currently serves on the Voice faculty and teaches movement and sound in the Drama department at the California Institute of the Arts, the Musical Theatre faculty at California State University, Fullerton, as well as Voice faculty at California State University, Los Angeles. Ms. Babcock’s numerous awards include “Artist of the Year” for her portrayal of Jo in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Syracuse Opera), the George London Award, the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Award, and the Opera Index and Sullivan Foundation Encouragement Awards. Recording under the name Aviva, she has released an album of Ladino pieces called Songs for Carmen, a collection of works sung in Ladino and Arabic, inspired by the character Carmen.
Current as of July 11, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...constantly compelling..." – Orlando Sentinel
Cavalleria Rusticana – "Audrey Babcock gives Santuzza the drive and despair of a woman who's losing at love and knows it. She, too, is constantly compelling, and her anger and grief seem to rise from her body into her voice."
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“... simply fabulous…” – Cache Valley Daily
Beyond Carmen – "In Beyond Carmen – Ms. Babcock’s pas de deux with classical guitarist Andrés Vadin – she delivered a sultry, beguiling, seductive vocal performance at the Ellen Eccles Theatre on July 26. Ms. Babcock’s singing was simply fabulous. . . Ms. Babcock delivered stunning vocals as she explored Ladino folk songs and lullabys, all leading up to the Bizet’s familiar “Habanera,” followed by a taste of flamenco as an encore. It was a spellbinding experience.”
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"...this soprano has a voice and a presence that cannot be denied..." – Front Row Reviewers
Aida – "Babcock as the Egyptian princess Amneris is strong and assertive and this soprano has a voice and a presence that cannot be denied...Babcock shimmers—she is absolutely stunning."
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"... a moving, haunting performance…” – San Diego Union Tribune
Maria de Buenos Aires – “As Maria, mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock gives a moving, haunting performance and her dusky, flexible voice soars, especially in the famous aria “Yo soy Maria.””
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"... Babcock's Carmen simmered with sensuality..." – Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Carmen – “Sometimes opera performances are dominated by a single singer. That was the case Friday evening …Babcock's Carmen simmered with sensuality. But her proud, principled embrace of the bohemian lifestyle — and her refusal to be trammeled by the men in her life — lent ballast to the sex kitten manipulations. Seductive? Yes, but Babcock was a thinking Carmen, too, a woman who knew her worth and had no intention of letting it be diminished. Vocally Babcock had the part nailed, too. Light and playful in numbers such as the Act 1 set-piece "Habanera," her voice expanded thrillingly in the later confrontations with Don José, while never losing a satisfying bloom and plenitude."
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"... a stunningly full-throated performance..." – Broadway World
Rigoletto – “Mezzo soprano Audrey Babcock, as the manipulative and cunning Maddalena, very nearly steals the show in her third act appearance, giving audiences a mere glimpse of what we can expect from her Carmen, the centerpiece of Nashville Opera's 30th Anniversary Season: She gives a stunningly full-throated performance of the sexy and sensuous Maddalena and the senses reel in anticipation of her Carmen.”
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"... a well projected, amber-hued tone..." – Opera News
Little Women – “Babcock won empathy as the intractable member of the March family’s four sisters... She deftly negotiated the score’s angular melodies with incisive pitch, supple coloratura and a well projected, amber-hued tone.”
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"Mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock ate the role of Augusta Tabor with a spoon." – Parterre Box
Ballad of the Baby Doe – "Mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock ate the role of Augusta Tabor with a spoon. She relished every glorious character moment this role had to offer her and keenly took thorough advantage of all of them...Vocally, she was extremely strong, even in Moore’s most taxing writing of the role for the ‘Leadville Fricka.’ Plus, if she ever gets to sing Strauss’s Klytemnestra, she’s already got the perfect gown and I will insist she take it out of her closet for an encore."