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LAQUITA MITCHELL
SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim on eminent international opera and concert stages worldwide, having recently been nominated for a Grammy for her contribution as the soprano soloist in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall with Oratorio Society of New York. This season, she makes her long-awaited début as Aida with Dayton Opera. Ms. Mitchell also joins California Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Charleston Symphony for Sanctuary Road, the Bilkent Symphony in Turkey for a concert of American songs, and Austin Symphony to sing Bess in a concert production of Porgy and Bess.
Last season, Mitchell returned to the role of Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with New Orleans Opera and Portland Opera and reprised her lauded performance of Sanctuary Road with Virginia Opera, Princeton Pro Musica, and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. In addition, Mitchell appeared in concert with Saint Thomas Church for Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, Chattanooga Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the Cleveland Orchestra for their community chamber concert series, the Waterbury Symphony for their performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and Bard Summerscape to sing Verveine in Viardot’s chamber opera Le dernier sorcier.
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"emerged with welcome clarity." – Opera News
Josephine – "In Josephine, Laquita Mitchell looked ravishing, coming close to capturing performer Josephine Baker's unstoppable vitality...Her scattered quiet moments or spoken words emerged with welcome clarity."
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"a smooth-voiced and soothing presence" – The New York Times
Omar – "Julie (the soprano Laquita Mitchell, a smooth-voiced and soothing presence), who escapes from the slave market in Charleston but urges Said to meet her in Fayetteville, N.C., at Owen’s property. When they reunite there, she explains why she was helping him to begin with, in the opera’s finest aria, which begins with the line 'My daddy wore a cap like yours.'"
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"...showed off a supple and refined soprano as Bess..." – Boston Globe
Porgy and Bess – “Laquita Mitchell showed off a supple and refined soprano as Bess, infusing the role with a touching vulnerability and innocence yet at the same time an awareness of her own weakness that gave her portrayal a weightier pull.”
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"...the most purely gorgeous piece of the evening..." – Opera News
Sanctuary Road – “…and the gleaming soprano Laquita Mitchell gave a captivating, heartfelt plea for "Rain," in what was the most purely gorgeous piece of the evening”