Opera News has applauded American soprano Liz Lang for her "comedic timing and clear resonant tone."
Known for her crossover abilities throughout multiple genres, the 23/24 season brings some exciting new opportunities including a sold-out salon night hosted by opera great James Morris, and an evening with the Equinox Orchestra singing swing standards in iconic historical Savannah venues. Ms. Lang appears as a soloist with Voices of Ascension in their Gala at New York’s fabulous Fabbri Mansion and as the soprano soloist in their performance of Mozart’s Requiem. She travels to Venice, Italy for an artist residency and writing retreat to begin work on her newest show and brings her acclaimed recital Prohibition to New York featuring classical and jazz music previously censored in a variety of ways. In the inaugural presentation of the Broadway Workroom Series, Liz is delighted to join the cast of In the Light, a new musical by Michael Mott, Kate Mulley, and Nathan Wright. Continuing a series of exciting debuts, she sings her first Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber with Riverside Orchestra and her company debut with MasterVoices for the NYC premiere of Doug Varone’s To My Arms / Restore, led by Ted Sperling.
Last season, Liz was delighted to make her Off-Broadway debut as Glinda in Wicked/Wasted and her role debut as Mimì in La Bohème with The Savannah Voice Festival. She appeared as the soprano soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with Voices of Ascension, an anniversary party for Coca-Cola at the Statue of Liberty with her jazz-fusion band, a masterclass with Frederica von Stade, and a multi-genre, self-curated recital entitled I’m not mad exploring the psychology of Ophelia. Other recent highlights include a reading of a new musical by Jack Coen about intergalactic aliens, a Javanese Purim spiel with Gamelan Son of Lion, her role debut as Fiona in Brigadoon, and a cover performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York.
Bringing “touches of smoldering drama” (Musical America) to operatic and musical stages alike, Ms. Lang was part of the first cast of Barn on Fire with Fire Island Pines Project and New York Theater Barn. This new musical residency, mentored by Broadway’s Jerry Mitchell, was designed to support original, culture shifting musicals in development and was featured on SiriusXM with Broadway Names host Julie James. Liz previously joined long-time pianist and colleague Michael A. Ferrara in a joint residency with the Rogers & Hammerstein Foundation and the National Asian Artists Project to perform selections from R&H shows and recent Broadway highlights from The Prom, Once on this Island, Phantom of the Opera and more, led and narrated by leading industry professionals and conductors.
Ms. Lang made her Lincoln Center debut in March 2018 in a new production of La Traviata with the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York as Annina and the Violetta cover, following her professional debut and highly acclaimed interpretation of Iris in Handel’s Semele with Opera Omaha. In this new production directed by James Darrah and conducted by Grammy award winner Stephen Stubbs, "Liz Lang stole her scenes as a spritely Iris with her iridescent soprano" (Omaha World Herald) and "provided some much welcome comic relief" (Wall Street Journal).
Other operatic achievements include Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Atalanta in Serse, Edilia in the first complete American performance of Handel’s Almira with members of the Boston Early Music Festival, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte and soprano soloist in Handel’s L’Allegro il Penseroso at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Violetta in La Traviata, the Foreign Woman in The Consul, Frasquita in Carmen, and Shirley Kaplan in Street Scene. Ms. Lang was a semifinalist in the American Traditions Vocal Competition and is the winner of the 2019 Sherrill Milnes American Opera Award.
Ms. Lang has been a recitalist and soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, with Grammy award winner Paul O’Dette, The New American Songbook Orchestra, Kollective366, Stonington Opera House, Bard Summerscape, the Salzburg Festival in Austria, and throughout Italy. She has enjoyed solo orchestral performances including Ein Deutsches Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Ben Yarmolinsky’s The Constitution: a Secular Oratorio with the Vertical Player Repertory and Grace Chorale as part of New York Opera Fest where she “almost stole the show with her easy-breezy tone and high-octane scatting” (Parterre Box).
Liz earned her Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Rita Shane after completing her Bachelor of Music degrees in Opera and Music Theatre at Oklahoma City University under the leadership of Dr. Frank Ragsdale. Ms. Lang is based in New York City coaching with Metropolitan Opera tenor, John McVeigh and long-time Met Opera broadcast commentator, Ira Siff.