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Ellen
McLain is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. She was educated at
The North Carolina School of the Arts and The New England Conservatory in
Boston where she received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees with Honors
in Music.
Ms.
McLain has worked with some of the world’s greatest conductors,
including Seiji Ozawa, Gerard Schwarz, and Gunther Schuller.
On the concert stage she has appeared with the New York Choral
Society, the Antonia Brico Symphony in Denver, the Nashville Symphony, and
Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, Cecelia Society, and Musica Viva
performing works ranging from Purcell’s KING ARTHUR to Mahler’s
SYMPHONY NO. 4, Kurt Weill’s FRAUENTANZ, and Samuel Barber’s
KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 1915. In Seattle, where she lives with her husband,
composer and actor John Patrick Lowrie, she has sung with the Northwest
Boychoir, premiering Rick Vale’s MASS, with Orchestra Seattle in
Handel's oratorios SAMSON and L’ALLEGRO ED IL PENSEROSO, and with the
Northwest Sinfonietta in Mozart’s REQUIEM.
Ms. McLain's opera credits include HANSEL AND GRETEL with Sarah Caldwell's
Opera New England, Adina
in L’ELISIR D’AMORE with New Orleans Opera, Norina
in DON PASQUALE with Chattanooga Opera, and she has created the roles of The
Social Worker in Anthony Davis' opera X, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM
X at the American Music Theatre Festival in Philadelphia, and Sophia
in Stan Hoffman’s opera TWILIGHT VOICES at Chaspen Opera. With Seattle
Opera she has sung principal roles in THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE, THE MERRY
WIDOW, THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, LA TRAVIATA, DIE
FLEDERMAUS, LAKME, and Mimi
in THE BOHEMIANS, a modern adaptation of LA BOHEME.
Her association with Tacoma Opera includes principal roles in DIE
FLEDERMAUS, CARMEN, ROMEO AND JULIET, DIDO AND AENEAS, and most recently Musetta
in LA BOHEME and Despina in
COSI FAN TUTTE.
Equally at home in theater and musical comedy,
Ms. McLain has played Magnolia
in SHOW BOAT to sold-out houses in Europe, performed on Broadway in MY
FAIR LADY with Sir Rex Harrison and with Peggy Lee in her show, PEG.
She has toured nationally in CAMELOT with Richard Harris, and with
Juliet Prowse in MAME. Northwest
audiences may recall her as Glinda
in THE WIZARD OF OZ, or as the tap dancing, sax playing Madame
Pavlenko in A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD at the Fifth Avenue Theater.
In 2001 she toured nationally as Edith
in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK and performed the role of Hannah
Mae in A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS..., and this Spring she portrayed Linda
Loman on Montana Rep’s national tour of
DEATH OF A SALESMAN. An
award winner from the National Institute for Music Theater in Washington,
D.C. she has also had the honor of performing at The White House. |