Born on August 5, 1973
Soprano

Lauren Skuce sang the role of Heloise in the 2002 world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ Heloise and Abelard with the Juilliard Opera Center and of Ophelia in Kievman’s Hamlet with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In 2004 she sang in three rarely heard works by Shostakovich at the Bard Summerscape Festival. During the current season she is singing for the first time the roles of the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and of Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust at Palm Beach Opera. She made her New York recital debut in Alice Tully Hall in November of 2002 and sang at Carnegie Hall in Pergolesi’s Stabat mater with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 2001. She has received numerous scholarships, including the Sullivan Award and the DeRosa Career Grant.

SEMI-FINAL
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
"Tri lilii" ~ Symphonie No. 14
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Chansons de Bilitis
SERGUEI RACHMANINOV
"Vysna idyot"
JOCELYN MORLOCK
"Amore"
CHARLES GOUNOD
"Ah, je ris de me voir" ~ Faust

FINAL
CARL ORFF
"Stetit puella" ~ Carmina Burana
RICHARD STRAUSS
"Beim Schlafengehen" ~ Vier letzte Lieder
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
"Dove sono" ~ Le Nozze di Figaro
GIACOMO PUCCINI
"Tu, che di gel sei cinta" ~ Turandot
GUISEPPE VERDI
"È strano!… Ah fors’è lui… Sempre libera" ~ La Traviata

ADDITIONAL INFO
1- What do you like most about music? (Why did you decide to become a singer?)
How completely transformative it can be. A performance can be uplifting, almost a religious experience. It can be a comedy, making you laugh out loud, and of course, it can be tragic, making us feel closer to the suffering of humankind. I have always loved classical music ever since I can remember. I played many instruments growing up, but I always had a flair for the dramatic. Classical singing was the most difficult endeavour I ever attempted; therefore I was innately drawn to it. Being able to perform in front of people while at the same time making music is a dream come true.

2- Composers or works you particularly feel drawn to? (desert island type music?)
Mozart, Debussy, Bach, and Shostakovich are my favourite composers. Some examples of my favourite works are Le Nozze di Figaro, Pelléas et Mélisande, Dialogues of the Carmélites, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, and Bach’s Mass in B minor.

3- Who are your favourite singers and why?
Maria Callas: she has the most masterful phrasing that I have ever heard. This is what makes her dramatic presence so compelling.
Thomas Quasthoff: his singing is so honest. His voice is incredible from top to bottom and yet you get the sense that his only goal is to make music.

4- Your most intense musical moment?
Singing the Shostakovich’s Seven romances on poems by Alexander Blok live in Alice Tully Hall when it seemed as if the composer was present in the audience. All four performers together created a unity that was universally felt culminating in the last movement entitled "Music," in which the musician offers himself to the transformative power of the art itself. When discussing the performance afterwards, we all felt as if the piece took on a life of itself beyond our control. It was as if there were other hands at work making it come to life.

5- Anything else you would like to reveal about yourself?
I have a wonderful family, a puppy, and a husband whom I all love very much. Some of my interests include tennis, jogging, yoga, and reading.

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