Coloratura soprano Rachele Schmiege has frequented the stages of Boston since her arrival just three years ago. Last July, Rachele performed her third role with Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC) as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. Other roles include Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, conducted by world renowned coach and conductor Michael Strauss and directed by Metropolitan Opera Director Marc Astafan, and the role of the Goddess Diana in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide (2006). In February, 2009, Rachele will perform the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Cape Cod Opera.

Recently, Ms. Schmiege performed the roles of Lola in Gallantry with the Weston OperaFest in Weston, Massachusetts and Voluptua in Barab's hilarious one act opera Pizza con Funghi with BOC. Rachele completed her Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she performed the roles of First Witch and Spirit in Dido and Aeneas and understudied the role of La Ciesca in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Rachele currently studies with soprano Carole Haber and Jean Anderson-Collier, coach.

A native of Michigan, Ms. Schmiege completed her undergraduate studies at Western Michigan University with tenor Joe Miller and soprano Elizabeth Cowan. She graduated in 2005, earning a Bachelors degree in Music. At Western Michigan University, Rachele performed the roles of Laetitia in the Old Maid and the Thief and the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Susannah and Nella in Gianni Schicchi.

On the concert stage, Rachele is active performing a potpourri of pieces. This last March, Rachele world premiered Mohammad Fairouz’s Bonsai Journal in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City, with Katie Reimer, piano. She will perform this piece again in October and May 2009 with the Mimesis Ensemble based in New York. She has also been the soprano soloist for Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Faure’s Requiem, Duruflé’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah.

Rachele Schmiege-Soprano