COLLEEN BROOKS, MEZZO-SOPRANO

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Colleen Brooks (she/her), mezzo-soprano, performs in North America, Europe, and Asia and has been featured in productions with all three opera companies in the Milwaukee community.

Colleen has coached American composers William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, Thomas Pasatieri, Ned Rorem, and Somtow Sucharitkul and performed with Mr. Heggie at the Grandin Music Festival in Cincinnati in 2006. In addition, she was a Wisconsin District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Competition in 2009 and a participant in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program in the summer of 2010.

Colleen was an apprentice artist with Florentine Opera for their 2008-09 season, where she performed the roles of Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Third Lady (The Magic Flute) and was most recently heard there as the Huntsman and Sorceress in their Venus and Adonis and Dido and Aeneas Baroque double bill. Additional roles performed include Dora Marx in the world and Thailand premieres of The Snow Dragon, Wagner’s Mezzos in The Skylight Ring, Isabelle Eberhardt in Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar, Queen Chandra Devi in the European tour of The Silent Prince, Azucena, Rosina, Donna Elvira, Hansel, Garcias in Tulsa Opera’s Don Quichotte, Nora in Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea, Catherine in A View from the Bridge, Piramo in Piramo e Tisbe, and Mrs. Webb in a workshop performance of Rorem’s Our Town.

Colleen has been a member of the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 2013. She completed her DMA in vocal performance at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati, OH. She holds a master’s degree in vocal performance and a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and biochemistry.