Accomplished mezzo-soprano LAUREN MCNEESE most recently returned to LA Opera as Wellgunde in LA Opera’s new production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen and appeared at the Ravinia Festival as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. She also recently made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as mezzo soloist in Mozart’s Requiem under the baton of Manfred Honeck.

A graduate of the Patrick G. and Shirley Ryan Opera Center, Lauren has been seen on the Lyric Opera stage as Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Siebel in Faust, Wellgunde and Rossweisse in the Ring Cycle, 2nd Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Lapak the Dog in The Cunning Little Vixen, Edith in The Pirates of Penzance, Flora in La traviata, and Myrtale in Thaïs. She has also appeared with LA Opera as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, Karolka in Jenufa, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (directed by Woody Allen), Tebaldo in Don Carlos, and Javotte in Manon (conducted by Plácido Domingo).

Other recent engagements include debuts with the San Francisco Opera as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, conducted by Donald Runnicles; Arizona Opera as Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte; Opera Company of Philadelphia as L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortileges and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi; Michigan Opera as Stéphano in Romeo and Juliette; and PortOpera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stéphano in Romeo and Juliette. She has appeared with the Minnesota Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and Bellino/Teresa in Casanova’s Homecoming by Dominick Argento. A member of the prestigious Wolf Trap Opera Company, she was featured as Isolier in Le comte Ory, where she was awarded a Shouse Education Career Grant. She performed La Ciesca in the reprisal of the critically acclaimed LA Opera production of Gianni Schicchi with the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. In concert McNeese has appeared with the Toronto Symphony as the mezzo soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, conducted by Helmuth Rilling, and the Cincinnati May Festival as a mezzo soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, conducted by James Conlon.