American soprano Melinda Whittington has performed with opera houses all over the country, but calls Charlotte her home. In the 23-24 season, Melinda sang her first Verdi Requiem with the Charlotte Symphony and made her role debut as Mimì in Minnesota Opera's new production of Puccini's La bohème, where she “could blow your hair back with her electrifying high notes.” (Star Tribune) This past season, she returned to both Mimì and Micaëla in Carmen with Opera Carolina, and also performed duets with Andrea Bocelli in his gala concert. Among her other recent roles are the title roles of Rusalka and Arabella, Violetta in La traviata, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Ada in Higdon’s Cold Mountain, Nedda in Pagliacci, Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Marguerite in Faust. Melinda was a young artist at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, a Merola young artist at San Francisco Opera, a Filene young artist at Wolf Trap Opera, and a national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In addition to pursuing her operatic career, Melinda is an avid recitalist and recently self-produced an album of art song entitled Night and Day, available for purchase on her website. She is also a skilled and experienced performer and teacher of both classical and contemporary vocal styles. Melinda serves as an adjunct professor of voice at Davidson College and maintains a thriving private studio. Her most important role is being mom to two little boys, Isaac and Simon, and wife to husband, Dr. Philip Bugaiski. .
To hear or learn more, visit her website at www.melindawhittington.com.