ABOUT GRACE
Grace Heldridge, a mezzo-soprano from Omaha, Nebraska, strives to create honest and compelling performances in Opera and Musical Theater. As an incoming member of the 2024/25 Internationales Opernstudio at Komische Oper Berlin, she makes her European Debut as Windhexe/Gemüsefrau in Wittenbrink's Die Kleine Hexe this fall. Additional roles with the company include Amy Lawrence in Kurt Weill's Tom Sawyer, Fatos in Fatma & Fatos, and The Teacher in Consistent Fantasy is Reality, a pop-psychedelic space opera created by Turkish Pop-Singer, Gaye Su Akyol, in collaboration with the Komische Oper as part of their Schall&Rausch Festival. Additionally, Grace will appear in multiple concert and recital appearances with the company throughout the season.
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Heldridge spent the summer as a studio artist with Opera Maine, performing as Performer #2 in Ricky Ian Gordon and Mark Campbell's Rappahannock County, as well as chorus in Verdi's Aida. She was recently named the First-Prize winner of the 2024 Wilkinson Young Singers Fund Competition, and will present a recital in collaboration with the organization next spring.
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Last season, Heldridge's passion for Art Song and Oratorio was highlighted by concert appearances throughout the Northeast. She performed Maurice Ravel's Shéhérazade with the Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem in D Minor (Alto Soloist) with Glens Falls Symphony, Bach's Cantata BWV 140 (Soprano Soloist) with The Trinity Choir, and Catalyst New Music's FUSE: Collaborations In Song.
Heldridge spent summer 2023 with Central City Opera as an Apprentice Artist in the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. At CCO, she covered Lois Lane/Bianca in Cole Porter's Tony Award-Winning musical, Kiss Me, Kate, and performed in the chorus of Rossini's Otello and Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. She was the recipient of the Cady Young Artist Award.
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Heldridge holds an M.M. in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During her time at BCB, she performed as Lazuli in Chabrier's L'Étoile, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hannah Older in As One, Mrs. Ott in Susannah, Nancy in Albert Herring, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, and Judge Dodsworth in Matthew Peterson's Voir Dire. Heldridge is a student of Dr. Rebecca Folsom and was named the 2022/2023 Miles A. Fish III '63 Scholar.
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Heldridge earned her B.M. in Vocal Performance from The University of Kansas, studying with renowned Mezzo-Soprano Joyce Castle. At KU, she performed as Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto with KU Opera, and The Mother in the KU Opera Workshop production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. During her time at KU, she was nominated and selected twice for the Undergraduate Honors Recital and was the recipient of the prestigious Haven Preyer Award for Voice. During her first two summers of undergrad, she returned to Omaha, NE to perform with the Papillion LaVista Community Theatre as Becky in Hairspray and Rapunzel in Into The Woods.
During her years in Lawrence, KS, Heldridge was involved with and elected as the Executive Director of Rock Chalk Revue (RCR), a student run philanthropic organization. Through RCR she co-wrote, directed, produced, choreographed and performed in three original one act musicals for the school’s annual judged fundraising competition — winning numerous awards such as Best performance by a Female Lead, Best Original Song, Best Story, and Best Vocal Performance.
In 2020, Heldridge was selected as an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival in Schroon Lake, NY. She spent the following two summers at Seagle, performing notable roles in opera and musical theater. Roles with the festival include Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!, La Maestra Delle Noviziei in Suor Angelica, Dorothée in Cendrillon, Mama Bear in The Three Bears, Bellomy in The Fantasticks. She also performed as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus in the Opera Scenes program.
In the fall of 2022, Heldridge was named a semi-finalist in the MassOpera Competition and the NextGen National Vocal Competition. She has competed twice in The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning an Encouragement Award from the Tulsa District in 2021 and the Friends of Opera award from the Nebraska District in 2022. She won the Barbara Rondelli Vocal Competition in the spring of 2020, and received a scholarship award from the Kansas City Music Council at the Kansas SAI Scholarship Competition in the spring of 2021.