“Remarkable soprano Maggie Finnegan managed to execute unusual vocal techniques and immaculate diction in a pitch-perfect voice.
”
BIO
GRAMMY® nominated soprano Maggie Finnegan has been hailed by Opera News for her “bright coloratura” and The Washington Post for her “silvery, pitch-perfect voice.” This season Maggie performs Linda Lampton in Tod Machover's sci-fi opera VALIS with the MIT Media lab, Little Stone in Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice with Boston Lyric Opera, Virginia Poe in Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe with Odyssey Opera, Sandström’s A Messiah for Our Time with the New England Philharmonic, the world premiere of Douglas Knehans’s To The Stars, Webern's Op.25 with the Brooklyn Art Song Society and she will make her Canadian debut in Haydn's The Creation with Vancouver Symphony. Career highlights include the Queen of the Night with Mass Opera and On Site Opera, Danica in Boston Lyric Opera’s film of Ana Sokolović’s Svadba, Anya in the world premiere film of Everything For Dawn (Experiments in Opera), the world premiere of Marc Hoffeditz’s opera U-Hauling, Sophia in the West Coast premiere of Lembit Beecher’s opera Sophia’s Forest with Opera Parallèle, L'Enfant et les Sortileges with the Belgian National Orchestra, Louis Andriessien's Odysseus' Women / Anais Nin (Center for Contemporary Opera / Andriessenfest), White Snake Projects’ world premiere of Dan Visconti’s PermaDeath: A Video Game Opera and a duo recital with Mezzo-Soprano Stephanie Blythe with Sparks and Wiry Cries.
Awards include the S&R Foundation's 2017 Washington Award, First Place and Audience Favorite in the Washington International Competition for Voice and second place in The American Prize for Women in Opera. Specializing in new music, she has sung premieres with White Snake Projects, Experiments in Opera, Opera Parallèle, Catalyst New Music, the {Re}Happening Festival, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, The American Chamber Opera Company, Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble, Vital Opera, Sparks & Wiry Cries SongSLAM and the Center for Contemporary Opera. She performed in The Sound of Music with Paper Mill Playhouse, The Metropolitan Opera Guild's School Touring Program, Lee Mingwei’s Sonic Blossom at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and sang as a soloist in the revival of the play Extraordinary Measures with tony award winning playwright/activist Eve Ensler.
An avid concert performer and recitalist, Maggie made her international concert debut at the PyeongChang Winter Music Festival in South Korea. Recent concert appearances include Haydn’s Creation with the Providence Singers, a solo recital at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, performances with Beth Morrison Projects, the Avanti Orchestra, the Capital Fringe Festival Chamber Series, The New Dominion Chorale, the City Choir of Washington, the Avanti Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera Signature Series, the Handel and Haydn Society and the Halcyon Stage in Washington, DC. She is a core member of the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble The Broken Consort. The Broken Consort presented the world premiere of Movement 12 from Maggie's new work Reassemble With Care, a composed and devised song cycle for amplified soprano and chamber ensemble. In 2020 she became a core member of Queens Voice Lab, an empowered community of and for professional singing artists sharing ideas, concerns, and actions in order to build mutual support and learning, further creative work, and amplify advocacy for artists’ rights and more humane, equitable practice and norms in the vocal arts at large.
Maggie earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, her Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and honed her opera improvisation skills at the Opera Works Advanced Artist Program in Los Angeles. She currently splits her time between New York City and Boston, where she shares a home with her partner, three step-kids and her pet snakes Henry Jones Jr., Sallah and Walter.
“Soprano Maggie Finnegan was a marvel of crystalline tone, melodic precision and poker-faced expressiveness.”
“ Finnegan’s soprano sound was compelling, siren-like, and her technique and intonation were excellent. ”
[Performance Reel]
[Press]
As Virginia Poe in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe with Odyssey Opera
“Soprano Maggie Finnegan, as Virgina Poe, had the prettiest voice, and her rendition of Argento’s lyrical setting of Poe’s “Annabel Lee” was one of the production’s loveliest moments.
[Lloyd Schwartz, Musical America Worldwide]
Photo: Kathy Wittman / Ball Square Films
“Maggie Finnegan’s pure-toned Virginia was likewise agreeable, soaring in her haunting Act 2 scenes.”
[Jonathan Blumhofer, Boston Classical Review]
“Maggie Finnegan sang with vigor and passion”
”The most poignant moment occurred in Act II, scene VII, when Finnegan sang a touching snippet of Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee,” accompanied only by a lone, droning bell. She delivered Poe’s wonderfully tone-pained lyrics... with crystalline precision and emotional depth. In the same scene, Tantsits and Meglioranza joined Finnegan. A ravishing trio ensued with a wellspring of emotion and fascinating dynamic contrast.”
[Jared Hackworth, The Boston Music Intelligencer]
As Little Stone in Eurydice with Boston Lyric Opera
“Maggie Finnegan, Alexis Peart, and Neal Ferreira made for a gut-busting trio in the roles of stones in Hell.”
[Aaron Keebaugh, The Arts Fuse]
“The chorus of stones were sung with winning spirit and clarity by Maggie Finnegan, Alexis Peart and Neal Ferreira”
[Jonathan Blumhofer, Boston Classical Review]
Webern’s Opus 25 with Brooklyn Art Song Society’s Circles III
“Finnegan, accompanied by pianist Michael Brofman, set the standard for the singing, with excellent intonation and articulation, and a palpable sense of expression and meaning.
Artwork by Joan Chiverton
[George Grella, New York Classical Review]
Soprano Maggie Finnegan revealed her vocal prowess during the opening phrase of No.1 “Wie bin ich froh!” as she precisely blossomed on ‘froh’ and ‘grün’ through her upper register and sent chills down the spine. Her voice has a pleasant exactness that, instead of pushing listeners, invites them in to enjoy every detail. Finnegan smiled through her eyes in “Wie bin ich froh.” She made Hildegard Jone’s text feel special, especially as she sang “noch einmal bin ich ganz ins Werden hingestellt und bin auf Erden,” “once again I have found myself entirely surrounded by becoming, and am on the earth.”
One could feel Finnegan’s intent to convey Jone’s message. It was a profound interpretation.
No.3 “Sterne, Ihr silbernen Bienen der Nacht” was full of glitter and sparkle in Finnegan’s voice. She painted a lucid remembering of night’s heavenly bliss through her voice’s warmth and sustainability. There was no separating of any part of the text as Finnegan drew a clear connectivity between the notes. Her voice was like a glossy part of a body of water at night, awaiting to be stirred but never becoming waves.
[Jennifer Pyron, Opera Wire]
Linda Lampton in Tod Machover’s opera VALIS at the MIT Media Lab
“Timur Bekbosunov and Maggie Finnegan made for a wildly humorous pairing as the Lamptons, each performer reveling in the vocal flourishes of characters whose imaginations often ran into rowdy outer reaches.”
[Aaron Keebaugh, the arts fuse]
Photo: Maria Baranova
“As the Lamptons, Maggie Finnegan and Timur Bekbosunov made a convincing rock duo who exuded sexual power."
[Ruth Hertzman-Miller, Boston Music Intelligencer]
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Music & Landscape
“Soprano Maggie Finnegan soared through “The thundering Fall! The bubbling stream…Nature’s whispers…trilling arpeggios.” One of the poet’s other lines could describe her singing “With wild sweet play,” and I would offer with dazzlement musically and virtuosically.”
[David Patterson, The Boston Musical Intelligencer]
Brooklyn Art Song Society New Voices Festival, Spring 2023
“Her voice was bright, with a rapier-like intonation. The bookends of the set were songs reacting to nature while full of foreboding about the future, and the shining quality of her singing balanced the music on the point between stability and disaster… This was intense, literary music, and while the narrative may not have connected to all listeners, one admired Finnegan’s strength and control.”
“Finnegan’s soprano sound was compelling, siren-like, and her technique and intonation were excellent. The brightness of her sound was a fine fit for this music.”
[George Grella, New York Classical Review]
As Anya in Experiments in Opera’s world premiere film of Everything For Dawn
"Maggie Finnegan's bright coloratura gives the series' antagonist a disconcerting edge”
[Steven Jude Tietjen, Opera News]
Photo: Steve DiBartolomeo
As Sophia in the West Coast premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest with Opera Parallèle
“At the center of the splendid cast was soprano Maggie Finnegan, whose performance as the grown-up Sophia was a marvel of crystalline tone, melodic precision and poker-faced expressiveness.”
[Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle Datebook]
The adult Sophia, an excellent Maggie Finnegan's crystalline voice and faraway look captured this poignant moment. Here and throughout, her soprano piping into the soaring reaches of the cathedral’s vaulted space conveyed Sophia’s fragility and tensile strength.
[Steven Winn, Musical America, 2022]
Photo: Kathy Wittman
As Sonny in the world premiere of PermaDeath: A Video Game Opera with White Snake Projects
“As Sonny, soprano Maggie Finnegan had the evening’s most taxing role, both vocally and dramatically… but Finnegan’s clear, poised and defiant soprano executed Visconti’s challenges with panache, winning a good measure of sympathy for her character.” [Opera News]
“As Sonny, Maggie Finnegan sang with a soft but nimble coloratura that floated effortlessly in her plaintive cry in the final scene, where she sacrifices her life to save Apollo. Finnegan’s acting made Sonny an especially sympathetic figure as she struggled with her disease and over the fear of losing her friend.”
[Boston Classical Review]
“Sonny [was] sung with crisp excellence by soprano Maggie Finnegan” [The Boston Globe]
“Maggie Finnegan (Sonny) had a delicate, yet expressive soprano, precisely tempered in its upper ranges.”
[Boston Music Intelligencer]
As The Water in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince (Opera Parallele)
“Maggie Finnegan was mysteriously alluring as The Water.” [Bay Area Reporter]
"The Water, Maggie Finnegan, performed with precise and lovable art." [Opera Wire]
"Maggie Finnegan deployed her flowing voice nicely as the Water." [San Francisco Classical Voice]
Halcyon Stage presents Lembit Beecher, the Aizuri Quartet and Soprano Maggie Finnegan
"Remarkable soprano Maggie Finnegan managed to execute unusual vocal techniques and immaculate diction in a silvery, pitch-perfect voice." [The Washington Post, Anne Midgette]
As Soloist with the Camerata Singers of Monterey County
"Her first song was the Felix Mendelssohn Grant, O Lord, thy grace unbounded exhibiting an evenness and controlled soaring ability"
"Behind The Clouds [Abbie Betinis], displayed her wide range and ability to convey hope, peace, joy, and love."[Peninsula Reviews]
As Nausicaa in Odysseus' Women/ Anais Nin (Center for Contemporary Opera)
"Maggie Finnegan had a strong voice and noteworthy acting prowess"
[Opera News]
"Superlative..." [Opera Magazine (UK)]
"Astonishing ... Dazzling." [New Music Connoisseur]
As Arrangiarsia in the world premiere of Dominick DiOrio's The Little Blue One (Juventas New Music Ensemble)
“Azzurina's feisty alter-ego, Arrangiarsia, was the incendiary behind much of the action and the opera's most capitivating musical presence. Maggie Finnegan was confident and delightfully spry in the role of Arrangiarsia. Her focused soprano dispatched the impish melodies with precise articulation and, as the driving force behind azzurina's undoing, her crystal tone took on chillingly derisive overtones.”
[The Boston Examiner]
“...brilliantly sung by coloratura Maggie Finnegan...”
[Boston Music Intelligencer]
As Anne Sexton in Transformations (Peabody Chamber Opera)
“Maggie Finnegan was especially impressive in the central role of the opera, depicting the poet herself (cigarette and martini at the ready) and some characters from the stories; Her singing had an admirable tonal purity and textural clarity.”
[The Baltimore Sun]
[discography]
The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe, Virginia Poe
Dominick Argento, composer
Charles M Nolte, librettist
Gil Rose, Conductor
Boston Modern Opera Project + Odyssey Opera
X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Reporter 1
Anthony Davis, composer
Thulani Davis, librettist
Gil Rose, Conductor
Boston Modern Opera Project + Odyssey Opera
The Wake World, Parthenope
David Hertzberg, composer + librettist
Elizabeth Braden, Conductor
Label: Tzadik
Opus 1 & 2, Radical Softness & The Glorious Cuntata
Composer + Conductor, Emily Lau
The Broken Consort
[AWARDS]
Opera America 2023 Award for Digital Excellence in Opera for SVADBA with Boston Lyric Opera & Opera Philadelphia, 2023
GRAMMY® nomination for X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera & Boston Modern Opera Project, 2022
First Place, Washington International Competition for Voice, 2016
S&R Foundation’s Washington Award, 2017
[more about me]
For me, life's greatest thrill is discovering new ways to unleash my inner artist. Singing is a huge part of that for me, and I am constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone in search of new ways to create art. In my truest form, I am still that theater kid who feels magic in the split second before stepping out into the lights, and I am proud to say that I’ve grown up into someone who also gets a thrill out of making a powerful sound, both in volume and in connection to the emotional life of the character I’m portraying.
I love the East Coast, but I always have my home state California in my soul. My heart says yes to art museums, improvising art songs, brew pubs, yoga, my beautiful circle of friends, redwood forests, the Pacific Ocean and spontaneous kitchen dance parties with my partner and his kids.
If you feel inspired to collaborate or connect with me in any way [through music, conversation, yoga, visual art or anything else] please reach out to me on my [Contact] Page.
Follow me on Facebook [Maggie Finnegan, Soprano] and Instagram [maggiefinnegansoprano]