Biography
Lyric dramatic soprano Mathilda Edge has been hailed as a “vocal tour de force” by the Chicago Tribune. Ms. Edge has sung on the stages of the likes of Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chicago Symphony Center, and Des Moines Metro Opera, and has performed with many orchestras and choruses throughout the United States including the Lyric Opera Orchestra, Bel Canto Chorus (Milwaukee, WI), and The City Choir of Washington (Washington, D.C.). She is an alumna of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, and the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. Along with maintaining a performing career, Ms. Edge serves in the position of Assistant Professor of Voice on the esteemed faculty at Oberlin College & Conservatory.
While a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, Mathilda and covered several roles. In the 2021-22 season, she sang Lady-in-Waiting in the David McVicar production of Verdi’s Macbeth under the baton of Music Director Enrique Mazzola; joined The Magic Flute cast as First Lady in a production by Suzanne Andrade and Barrie Kosky led by Karen Kamensek; covered Ana María Martínez in the title role of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Jordan de Souza; as well as appeared as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for a concert celebrating Sir Andrew Davis. Ms. Edge reprised her portrayal as First Lady when the Des Moines Metro Opera mounted the Barrie Kosky production in late winter. She also took part in a holiday concert with Opera Edwardsville.
In the previous season, Ms. Edge was scheduled to cover the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Lyric Opera of Chicago and perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis before the COVID-19 pandemic forced both to be cancelled. She was able to appear in August 2021 for a concert of arias and ensembles with Maestro Mazzola in Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion of which her rendition of “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s Tosca received a standing ovation.
Ms. Edge launched her 2019-20 season at the Grant Park Music Festival singing “Un bel dì, vedremo'' from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for thousands at Millennium Park prompting critics to write, “[she] showed palpable charisma and bell-like vocal clarity” (Chicago Tribune). As a first-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, she made her house and role debut in the fall at the Lyric Opera of Chicago singing Berta in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for which she was hailed as a “vocal tour de force….yielding an enormous sound with remarkable point” (Chicago Tribune). Ms. Edge went on to cover the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by James Gaffigan and was scheduled in the spring to perform Gerhilde in Die Walküre, in addition to covering Gutrune & 3rd Norn in Götterdämmerung and Freia in Das Rheingold for Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” directed by Sir David Pountney. She sang scenes from Verdi and Strauss operas at the 2020 “Rising Stars in Concert'' gala in Chicago.
In the summer of 2018, Ms. Edge covered the title role in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Santa Fe Opera, and in the summer of 2017 she sang the title role in Act II of Massenet's Thaïs as a member of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program for the Schwabacher Summer Concert before making her debut on the San Francisco Opera stage in the Merola Grand Finale singing a selection from Verdi’s I vespri siciliani.
Fully-staged opera productions include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (title role), Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) and Die Zauberflöte (First Lady), Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (Sandman), Handel’s Xerxes (Romilda), Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (Geraldine), and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (The Milliner). Concert appearances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bruckner’s Mass No. 3, Mozart’s Missa brevis in C major, and a performance at the Manchester Music Festival with pianist Warren Jones. Conductors with whom she has worked are Carl St. Clair, David Effron, Arthur Fagen, Anne Manson, and Gary Thor Wedow, in addition to coaching with Steven Blier and Kevin Murphy.
Ms. Edge is the recipient of a 2019 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. She has also won or placed in the Metropolitan Opera National Council (now know as the Laffont Competition) Auditions, Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, Washington International Competition for Voice, National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award Competition, and many others.
A native of Chandlerville, Illinois, Ms. Edge is an alumna of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she earned her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance and Illinois College where she earned her Bachelor of Science in both Management and Organizational Leadership & Music. In addition to her current position at Oberlin College & conservatory, Mathilda has also served on the faculties at Indiana State University and the University of Northern Colorado.
