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The American mezzo-soprano, Elizabeth DeShong, was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but moved to tiny Port Treverton with her family when she was 3 and attended nearby Selinsgrove Area High School. Her father was a Methodist minister, and she sang in church. As a child, she studied both singing (she appeared in a stage production of the Disney musical Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when she was in third grade) and piano, accompanying her school choirs for some years. She suffered from stage fright in solo piano recitals but found that vocal performances did not cause the same reaction. Music teachers spotted her talent and steered her toward the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Daune Mahy. She went on to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, earning a master's degree, and was then accepted into the Lyric Opera of Chicago's young artist program.
By 2008, Elizabeth DeShong was appearing around the Chicago area. In 2008, she won the Rose McGilvray Grundman Award of American Opera Society of Chicago; and in 2010, Young Artist of the Year Award for performances as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2011, she made her recording debut on a video recording of L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Op. 123, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Gulbenkian Choir.
Elizabeth DeShong has sung several roles for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, including Arsace in Semiramide (March 2016, February-March 2018), Wardrobe Mistress/Schoolboy/Page in Alban Berg's Lulu (November-December 2015), Hermia in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Enchanted Island (August 2016) and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (January-May 2014). Her other appearances include Fenena in Nabucco (January-February 2016) and Adalgisa in Norma (January-February 2017) for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Angelina in La Cenerentola (December 2014-May 2015), Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Suzuki for Glyndebourne Festival, Ruggiero in George Frideric Handel's Alcina for Washington National Opera (November 2017), Arsace in Bordeaux, Suzuki for Bavarian State Opera, Angelina for Wiener Staatsoper, Calbo in Maometto II for Canadian Opera Company (April-May 2016), Hänsel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel for Edinburgh Festival (August 2018), and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia) for Los Angeles Opera (February-March 2015).
Elizabeth DeShong has developed a reputation as “one of the most intelligent stage performers of her generation (Opera News).” Lauded equally for her musicianship and commanding stage presence, she has established herself as a regular on concert and operatic stages worldwide. Opera News wrote of her performance as Sesto in the Los Angeles Opera’s production of W.A. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (March 2019): “Elizabeth DeShong took pride of place as Sesto. Completely unrecognizable in her beard and dingy armor, DeShong sang with the range, expressiveness and musical precision that captured the hysterical extremes of her character. Much of Sesto’s music lies in the cellars of DeShong’s mezzo-soprano, where the intensely deep contralto tones she commands contrasted startlingly with the dazzling coloratura runs at the top of her range.”
During the 2019-2020 season, Elizabeth DeShong returned to the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera for performances as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, the latter conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. She made her debut with the Melbourne Symphony as Hänsel in a concert performance of Hänsel and Gretel and sang Pauline in Pique Dame at Lyric Opera of Chicago -- both conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
Elizabeth DeShong began the 2021-2022 season by joining The English Concert and Harry Bicket, as Bradamante (debut), on a tour of G.F. Handel's Alcina. Following the tour, she reprised the role of Calbo in Rossini’s Maometto secondo with Washington Concert Opera. The season continued with a return to The Metropolitan Opera where she performed her much-lauded portrayal of Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In June, she made her debut with the Festival de Saint-Denis in Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. This was followed by a return to London for a recording and performance of Mercadante’s Il proscritto with Opera Rara.
The 2022-2023 season marks Elizabeth DeShong’s returned to San Francisco Opera, where she debuted the role of Octavia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra. 2023 included a tour of G.F. Handel's Alcina (Bradamante) with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Marc Minkowski, followed by her Dallas Opera debut as Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. From there, DeShong will make another exciting house and role debut as Fricka in Atlanta Opera’s production of Das Rheingold. The season closes with a return to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, where she will rejoin John Adams for a performance of The Death of Klinghoffer.
Elizabeth DeShong is in demand for parts in concert music and has appeared with a range of major American orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with ensembles in Europe, such as the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. |
