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www.melissaplagemann.com

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Melissa Plagemann, mezzo-soprano, performs frequently throughout the Pacific Northwest, and has appeared with some of the area’s finest musical organizations, including the Seattle Symphony, Tacoma Opera, Orchestra Seattle, Seattle Opera Guild, Skagit Opera, Bellevue Opera, the Seattle Choral Company, Kitsap Opera, and NOISE, among others. 
Recent opera roles for Ms. Plagemann include Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen in semistaged scenes with the Seattle Symphony, Dorabella in Così fan Tutte, Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and both the 2nd and 3rd Ladies in Mozart’s Magic Flute. In October 2006, she will return to Bellevue Opera to sing the role of Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed in several recent productions of Mozart’s Requiem, as well as Copland’s In the Beginning, and Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, among others.
Ms. Plagemann has a special interest in music of the Baroque era, and has performed several masterpieces of J.S. Bach, including the St. John Passion, Mass in B Minor, and Magnificat in D, as well as several of his Cantatas. During the 2006/7 season, she will be seen as Nutrice and Seneca’s wife in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, a highlight in the Seattle Early Music Guild’s 30th anniversary season, and will join the Bellevue Philharmonic for performances of Handel’s Messiah. She was recently a soloist in the annual Town Hall Bach Marathon in Seattle, singing Bach’s Cantata #18 and J.C. Bach’s Lament (Ach, dab ich Wassers gnug). Other Baroque oratorio repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat. In Baroque opera, she has sung the roles of Aurora in Landi’s Orfeo and Penelope in scenes from Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, under the direction of acclaimed lutenist Stephen Stubbs.
Ms. Plagemann is also an enthusiastic and sought-after performer of new music, and has appeared with several ensembles dedicated to performing the works of living composers, including Sonic Lab, 16 visions/Fisher Ensemble, and the Esoterics vocal ensemble. She was a founding member of the Seattle New Music Ensemble, and with them had the opportunity to perform several staples of 20th century repertoire, including Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and John Cage’s Aria.
Having earned a master’s degree in piano performance in addition to her experience as a singer, Ms. Plagemann is uniquely qualified as an interpreter of art song and chamber music, and is a frequent recitalist. As a winner of the 2004 Ladies’ Musical Club competition and tour, she was sponsored on a recital tour through Washington State, and she has been sponsored in several recitals during the 2005-6 season.
Awards for Ms. Plagemann include first prizes in the competitions of the Seattle Musical Art Society competition and the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society. She holds degrees in music from the University of Victoria, Canada, and Indiana University in Bloomington, and currently lives in Seattle, where she trains with Wagnerian soprano Jane Eaglen, and is a member of the musicians’ collective Northwest Artists.