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The American soprano, voice teacher and Alexander Technique trainer, Alexandra Kassouf, obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Vocal Performance from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2004-2008), where she also studied dance; and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) (2010-2012). She completed her Alexander Technique teaching certification at the ATTIC in Chicago (June 2019).
Alexandra Kassouf is based in Chicago, Illinois. She has performed as both a singer and a dancer with Opera Columbus, Queen City Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Folks Operetta, Contemporary Dance Theater, and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago. In 2023, she performed the role of Anna Gomez in Third Eye Theatre Ensemble’s final production, The Consul (September 2023). She appeared as Zorah with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago (GSOC) last spring, and she looks forward to returning to GSOC as Kate in their upcoming production of The Pirates of Penzance. A current member of the Florentine Opera chorus, she was the ensemble soprano in their production of George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea in February 2025, featuring a 5-voice ensemble. She has also sung with the Grant Park Chorus for the past three seasons.
As a soloist, Alexandra Kassouf has performed at the Constella Festival, the Accent 11 Festival, Performance and Time Arts, virtually with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and with Anima Children’s Choir. She performed the USA premiere of Michael Csanyi-Wills’ 3 Budapest Songs at the Constella Festival. With Fresco Opera Theater, she premiered the role of Clara Schumann in Clara, and with Evanston Chamber Opera the role of Gwendolyn in Francis Lynch’s For Those in Peril. In March 2025, she joined Consonance (formerly Chicago Choral Artists) as the soprano 2 soloist for the J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232.
An avid performer of new music, Alexandra Kassouf was a founding member of Avimimus, a vocal duo specializing in early music and new works. During their 2020-2021 season, Avimimus released several virtual programs, including 2 full length multimedia concerts, a miniature program of miniatures, and a world-premiere of Steve Landis’s Evocations. The duo also toured the Thousand Islands region, performing at the historic Clayton Opera House and at Densmore Church.
As a choreographer, Alexandra Kassouf collaborated on two operas for Queen City Opera, Wagner’s Siegfried and Weber’s Der Freischütz, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona for Cincinnati Chamber Opera, and Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at CCM. Of her performances was QCO it was written that she “oozed personality and sang brightly” through the role of Ännchen (Der Freischütz). Her QCO debut as the Waldvogel in Wagner's Siegfried, Act II inspired audiences to say that she “became the bird.” Last season, she sang and danced in the ensemble of Folks Operetta's production of The Csárdás Princess, and covered the role of Patience in the Gilbert and Sullivan gem of the same name with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago. She performed as both a singer and a dancer in a collaboration between choreographer Judith Mikita and composer Billy Larkin in the season closer for Contemporary Dance Theater, …and their feet like grass shall.
Currently, Alexandra Kassouf teaches voice lessons and Alexander Technique lessons in her private studio, The Open Space. She is a certified Alexander Technique teacher (M.AmSAT) and has taught workshops at Trinity Christian College, North Central College, VanderCook College, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, the Florentine Opera, the University of Memphis, Civic Music MKE, and UW-Milwaukee. She completed a week-long teaching residency at UW-Stevens Point this past fall, working with hundreds of students and faculty throughout the departments of music, dance, and theatre. From 2020-2023, she taught an Alexander Technique course at UW-Milwaukee, adapting the course curriculum for in-person, fully virtual, and hybrid semesters. |
