Melanie Gall, a coloratura soprano from Alberta, Canada, is gaining international attention in her young career. She has recently traveled to Africa to perform a series of classical recitals in celebration of the international Semaine de la Francophonie, and was received in every country with acclaim by both the audience and the media.
Melanie completed an arts degree with a major in music from the University of Alberta. She then studied voice at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario and at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto, Ontario.
In the spring of 2004, Melanie successfully completed a Master of Music degree with a specialty in Opera from Brooklyn College in New York. For three summers, she participated in young artist programmes in Tel Aviv, Israel and Chiari, Italy, coordinated by staff at the Metropolitan Opera.
Melanie has performed the roles of La Fee in Massenet’s Cendrillion and the role of The Queen of the Night from Mozart’s The Magic Flute in Tel Aviv, Israel. She sang the role of Gilda from Verdi’s Rigoletto in Chiari, Italy. She has also sung lead roles in Dido and Aeneas, The Telephone, Don Giovanni, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Suor Angelica, and Carmen.
In 2005, Melanie released two commercial recordings. The first, Min HaLev, is a collection of Sephardic and Hebrew melodies, and the second, La Nuit en Rose, is a collection of songs from the cabarets of France.
In 2006, Melanie traveled to Africa to sing in a series of concerts for La Semaine Francophonie, a week-long international celebration of French culture. During that week, she performed in concerts and recitals in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa. In addition, Melanie was invited to perform as a guest soloist with the Pretoria Black Tie Opera Ensemble. She performed the lead soprano role of Violetta in a concert version of La Traviata.
Melanie attended Manhattan School of Music in 2007-2008, completing an advanced music degree. In 2008, Melanie performed with Natchez Opera, covering the role of Luisa in The Fantasticks as well as singing several concerts in the Mississippi/Louisiana area. She also travelled to Prague to sing in their American Spring festival, and to Argentina and Uruguay to sing concerts as part of the international Semaine de la Francophonie.
In the fall of 2009, Melanie sang the lead role, Lima Energelly, in the North American premiere of the Hebrew opera And the Rat Laughed in Toronto. In December 2009, Melanie made her Lincoln Centre debut, singing the role of the Teddy Bear in Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland. In the spring of 2010, she made her Carnegie Hall premiere singing in the Shreve Oratorio, Portraits of the 20th Century.
In May 2010, Melanie sang Bizet’s opera Les pêcheurs de perles in Vermont with the Middlebury Opera company. In the summer of 2010, two plays that she wrote: My Pal Izzy: The Early Life and Music of Irving Berlin and Europe, a Savvy Girl’s Guide – The Musical were premiered at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. These plays received glowing reviews, and starred actors, a director, and musicians from around Alberta.
Melanie spent the spring of 2011 performing in Europe. She sang several recitals, most notably with the Castle Guard Orchestra in Prague in early May. She then went on to sing in several small towns in Moravia, Czech Republic. Melanie then took her new musical, The Sparrow and The Mouse – Creating the Music of Edith Piaf, to Fringe festivals in 8 different cities across Canada and the United States.
Upcoming performances include solo recitals in Ecuador and Colombia.