Biography

Mezzo-soprano Cynthia Munzer has sung over twenty roles in 223 performances with the Metropolitan Opera, in New York at Lincoln Center and on tour in the United States and Japan. Audiences across America have known her through weekly Texaco Metropolitan Opera Saturday Broadcasts and Met Opera recordings. Ms. Munzer has garnered rave reviews as a leading guest artist with over ninety other opera companies and major symphony orchestras. L’Opéra de Montréal, the New York City, Dallas, Houston Grand, Florentine and Washington Operas have presented Ms. Munzer in diverse leading roles such as Carmen, Amneris, Dame Quickly and Octavian. The Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, Los Angeles and Hong Kong Philharmonics, San Francisco and National and American Symphonies represent forty major orchestras with which she has collaborated.

Hailed in reviews for performances at the renowned Wolftrap, Aspen, Carmel and Oregon Bach Music Festivals, and the New York Mozart Bicentennial Festival, other highlights include a Live from Lincoln Center telecast, a Gian Carlo Menotti world premiere, performances with Aaron Copland, Leopold Stokowski and Zubin Mehta and a special 9/11 Memorial Tribute CD with Metropolitan Opera artists.

Ms. Munzer is director of the International Vocal Institute in Hvar, Croatia, and teaches at the Bard to Broadway Theatre in British Colombia. Her students have been winners of noted competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and have appeared in renowned young artist programs such as The Santa Fe Opera, Virginia Opera and Chautauqua Opera. Ms Munzer is sought after for her master class presentations in the United States as well as Taiwan, China, Croatia, British Columbia and Italy. Venues include The Schubert Club Song Festival in Minnesota; the Metropolitan Opera National Council in Tucson, Arizona, Salt Lake City, Utah, St. Paul, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington; the Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City; and over a dozen well known universities.

Professional Experience

Current Professional Affiliation(s):
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Adjudication
National Master Teacher, National Association of Teachers of Singing
Career Highlights:

• Metropolitan Opera live television and radio broadcasts from Lincon Center
  
• Performances with conductors James Levine, Leopold Stokowski, Sir John Pritchard, Thomas Schippers, Richard Bonynge, Sixten Ehrling, James Conlon, Helmut Rilling, Zubin Mehta, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir David Wilcox, Georges Pretre, Gerard Schwarz, Thomas Schermerhorn
  
• Debuts with New York City Opera, L'Opera de Montreal, Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Florentine Opera
  
• Founder/Director, International Vocal Institute, Hvar, Croatia
  
• Master Teacher for the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Annual Education Master Class Series, New York City
  

Honors, Awards & Competitions:

• Metropolitan Opera Council Audition National Winner plus contract
  
• Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Award
  
• Gramma Fisher Foundation Award
  
• Geraldine Farrar Award
  
• Honored by the city of Dallas, Texas—Awarded the Key to the City for Artistic Merit

Music Festivals:

• Carmel Bach Festival, California
  
• New York Lincoln Center Mozart Bicentennial Festival
  
• Oregon Bach Festival
  
• Aspen Music Festival
  
• Wolftrap Music Festival, Virginia
  

Recordings:

• Metropolitan Opera: Giuseppe Verdi, I Vespri Siciliani,  Myto 2mcd 052309 Nacionalista (2 CDs), released 2005
  
• Metropolitan Opera: Richard Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos, Celestial Audio CA 389 (2 CDs), Australia, released 2004
  
• Memorial Tribute to the Fallen Heroes of September 11, M. Senft Production, NY, NY, 2001
  
• Metropolitan Opera: Richard Wagner, Die Walküre, JDT Productions RHSC 144, released 1998
  
• Metropolitan Opera: Jacques Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffman, Bellavoceblv 107.224 2, Released 1996

Publications:
Featured in:

• Who's Who in America, Marquis Biographical Reference Publishing Company, NJ, 1980-present, 2005 edition p.3336
  
• Annals of the Metropolitan Opera, 1883-1985 Guide to Performances and Performers
  
• Musical America: International Directory of the Performing Arts, 1977-present
  
• The Classical Singer Magazine, January 2005, entitled "A Place in the Sun" International Vocal Institute
  
• Inter Nos, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Fall 2005 Vol.38.no.3

Other Academic Experience:
Degree in Vocal Performance: University of Kansas
Post Graduate work:

• Vocal instruction: Mme. Herta Glaz at the Manhattan School of Music
  
• Vocal instruction: Roy Henderson of the Royal Academy of Music, London
  
• University of Minnesota, Department of German Studies
  
• Italian Language: Universita Per Stranieri, Siena, Italy
  
• Il Globo Scuola di Dante Alighieri, Florence, Italy
  
• New School for Social Research, New York City
  
• New York City College, NY (Sociology and Psychology)  
• University of the South, Theological Seminary, EFM (Education for Ministry)
  

Studied with

• Mme. Herta Glaz, voice
  
• Roy Henderson, voice
  
• Alberta Masiello, vocal coaching
  
• Leo Mueller, vocal coaching
  
• Ted Forlow, stagecraft