Rochelle Ellis

Soprano Rochelle Ellis has distinguished herself in a broad repertoire that extends from Bach and Beethoven to Verdi, Barber and Gershwin. Frequently engaged by today's leading conductors, many of Ms. Ellis' most outstanding career successes have occurred in the concert hall. She has performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Houston Symphony conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, and the Oregon Symphony conducted by James DePriest. With Christopher Hogwood and Boston's prestigious Handel & Haydn Society, she has performed Beethoven's Ah Perfido!. The soprano also joined Lukas Foss and the Milwaukee Symphony for the Brahms Requiem. Her Carnegie Hall debut was as soloist in Schubert's Mass in G and Bach's Cantata 140 with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Westminster Choir conducted by Joseph Flummerfelt. The soprano was honored to give the world premiere of Hold Fast to Dreams composed by jazz great Dave Brubeck, and based on poetry by Langston Hughes. Ms. Ellis' international concert debut was performing the Verdi Requiem with the National Opera of China in Beijing with conductor Lyndon Woodside and the Oratorio Society of New York.

Ms. Ellis has performed many of the roles in her operatic repertoire in concert with orchestra as well. Her credits include being heard as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the New Jersey Symphony, and the Marschallin in the trio from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with the Phoenix Symphony. Fully staged operatic portrayals include the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Chamber Opera Chicago, and Rit in Thea Musgrave's Harriet, a Woman Called Moses at Milwaukee's Skylight Opera. She made her New York City Opera debut in March 2002 as Serena in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Other recent performances have included Haydn's Therienmesse and Faure's Requiem with New Jersey Symphony, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the Berkshire Choral Festival, and an appearance at the Prague (Czech Republic) Autumn Music Festival singing opera arias and duets. Spring 2004 saw her perform Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Billings Symphony (MT) and the Verdi Requiem with the Black Hills Symphony (SD). Summer 2005 will see Ms. Ellis return to the Berkshire Choral Festival for Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time, and she will return to Japan to perform recitals in Tokyo and Osaka.

Rochelle Ellis holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and a Masters in Music Education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she also serves on the voice faculty. In addition, she teaches private voice and holds her real estate license in New Jersey. Ms. Ellis currently resides in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.