BEHIND THE MUSIC
American soprano Rebecca Manseau begins the 2024/2025 season returning as a guest with the ensemble of the Landesbühnen Sachsen in the productions of Der Freischütz and Der fliegende Holländer under the batons of Hans-Peter Preu and Ekkehard Klemm. She will make her role debut as Angelica (Suor Angelica) at the Bill Heard Theatre in Columbus, Georgia, USA, with the Schwob School of Music, conducted by Paul Hostetter.
In the 2023/2024 season, Ms. Manseau gives her role debut as Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), conducted by Ben Smolder, and covers Madame Lidoine (Dialogues of the Carmelites), conducted by John Massaro, for the mainstage productions of the Festival of International Opera at the Teatro Bramante in Urbania, Italy. In spring 2024, Ms. Manseau delivered a debut recital performance of Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. Ms. Manseau performed Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) in the Schwob School of Music’s fall opera scenes and was also seen in the role of Giant’s Wife in the Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche Jack and the Beanstalk by John Davies as part of the children’s opera outreach program of Columbus State University. She was a featured soloist in the Kaleidoscope Concert series at the Rivercenter in Columbus, Georgia, as well as in a guitar and voice chamber music concert at the Columbus Botanical Garden.
In the previous season, Ms. Manseau debuted with the Landesbühnen Sachsen in the premiere of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Felsenbühne Rathen under the direction of Manuel Schöbel. Recital highlights from this season include the Liederabend “Homesickness and Memory” with Dvorak’s Biblical Songs and selected songs by Rachmaninoff and Richard Strauss with pianist and conductor David Wishart in Berlin, Germany.
Concert engagements have included Vivaldi’s Gloria, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Delibes’s Messe brève, and selected movements from Fauré’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Ms. Manseau made her professional debut as Najade in a production of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has appeared in masterclasses with Jay Hunter Morris, Christopher Pfund, and Filippo Ciabatti. Important musical and dramatic influences include pianist Byron Knutson and director Sandra Leupold.
Ms. Manseau is a winner of state, regional, and international competitions, including first place at the Opera Guild for Atlanta's 2024 Scholarship Competition and Tommy Trotter Competition, first place at the Atlanta Music Club's 2024 Scholarship Competition, first place at the 2024 Southeast Regional NATS auditions and at the 2023 Georgia NATS auditions, Gold Prize with the Euterpe Music Awards, and first place at the 2023 Charleston International Romantic Music Competition. She was a semi-finalist for the 2021 "Musica Sacra" competition in Rome as well as a Georgia District competitor in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition 2022.
Ms. Manseau holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Politics and German from Sewanee: The University of the South, and a Masters of Arts in Political Science from the Freie Universität zu Berlin. She has studied privately with soprano Martina Rüping in Berlin, Germany, and is obtaining her Masters in Vocal Performance with tenor Dr. Joshua May at the Schwob School of Music, at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, USA. Ms. Manseau is a former recipient of Fulbright and DAAD study grants and is a 2024 NATS Dillard Scholar.