Leah Heater
Leah Heater has sung as a soloist at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and with companies such as Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Maine, Sarasota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, Tulsa Opera, and Washington Concert Opera, and Newport Classical Festival. She has performed the operatic roles of Amneris in Aida, Fricka in Die Walküre, Mother in Hansel and Gretel, Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods, Gertrude in Hamlet, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Baba in The Medium, Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mercedes in Carmen, Carmen and Mercedes in Carmen and La tragedie de Carmen, Princess Eboli in Don Carlos, Riccardo in Riccardo Primo, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Aloès in L’étoile, the Page in Salome, Flora in La Traviata, Mary in Der fliegende Hollӓnder, Aunt Cecelia in Little Women, Juno in Orpheus in the Underworld, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte and Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress.
Ms. Heater has been fortunate to participate in new opera workshops, helping to create the roles of Sadie and Kathleen O’Fallin’ with Ricky Ian Gordon during Cincinnati Opera’s New Works Initiative for his show, Morning Star. She performed the role of Kathleen during the 2015 season with the same company. She also workshopped the role of Winnie Flato with Jake Heggie there for his opera, Great Scott, before its Dallas Opera premiere.
In concert, she performed the mezzo solos in Verdi’s Requiem with Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and Westmoreland Symphony, Lord Nelson Mass with Asheville Symphony and Huntington Symphony Orchestra, Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1 and Christopher Tin’s works with Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Akron Symphony Orchestra and Durufle’s Requiem with Distinguished Concerts International New York at Carnegie Hall.
This past season, Leah sang the alto solos in Messiah with the Richmond Symphony, as well Mercedes in Carmen with Washington Opera Society at the Embassy of France and the alto solos in Beethoven 9 with The Choral Arts Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center. Leah is also the lead singer for Washington, D.C.-based rock band, The Armors, and plays at local venues regularly. She joined the faculty of West Virginia University last fall as Visiting Professor of Voice, and previously served on the voice faculty of West Virginia Wesleyan College and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Bachelor of Music from University of Maryland, and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma in Opera from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and has been teaching for over 15 years.