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Cecelia Hall

Mezzo-soprano

  • Hailed by the Financial Times for her “easy flexibility, arresting poise and enveloping warmth,” mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall is a member of Oper Frankfurt’s prestigious ensemble and appears regularly as a guest artist on many of the world’s finest stages. Recent successes include the title roles in Händel’s Ariodante and Serse, and in Bizet’s Carmen, as well as Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther and Der Komponist in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as concert performances with Jaap van Zweden, Harry Bicket, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Christopher Allen, and Thomas Guggeis.

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  • Hall’s 2025/26 season opens with concerts at the Sag Harbor Song Festival, followed by three role debuts at Oper Frankfurt: Sesto in Händel’s Giulio Cesare, conducted by Laurence Cummings and directed by Nadja Loschky; Judy/Fortune Teller in Birtwistle’s Punch & Judy, conducted by Alden Gatt and directed by Wolfgang Nägele, and Second Angel/Marie in Benjamin’s Written on Skin, conducted by Erik Nielsen and directed by Tatjana Gürbaca.


    A highlight of Hall’s 2024/25 season was her performance of Der Komponist at Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza conducted by Guillermo García Calvo and directed by Joan Joan Antón Rechi, for which she was lauded in multiple publications for her ‘masterful’ portrayal, with a voice of ‘pure silk’ and ‘generous resources and projection’. Opera Actual’s Ismael G Cabral wrote: ‘I wish Strauss had given more lines to the troubled composer, because the mezzo Cecelia Hall took care of every detail, phrased with authentic intention and pleasure, and showed that she had a sincerely beautiful voice.’ In Frankfurt, she appeared in several new productions, including Magnard’s Guercoeur conducted by Marie Jacquot and directed by David Hermann, and Reimann's Melusine conducted by Karsten Januschke and directed by Aileen Schneider. In concert, she sang Mozart’s Requiem with Utah Symphony conducted by Christopher Allen, and Mendelssohn‘s Lobgesang at the Alte Oper Frankfurt conducted by Thomas Guggeis.


    Hall’s opera engagements outside Frankfurt over the past few seasons have included title role debuts in new productions of Rossini’s La Cenerentola for Boston Lyric Opera (for which Operawire’s João Marcos Copertino praised her “beautiful lyrical instrument”) and Carmen for Austin Opera conducted by Timothy Myers, as well as Xerxes for the Komische Oper Berlin and Ariodante for The Israeli Opera. Her concert engagements included Megacle in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade with Jean-Christophe Spinosi and Ensemble Matheus in London, Mozart’s Requiem in a series of concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden, Bach’s St John Passion on tour with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century conducted by Daniel Reuss, and a performance of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Harry Bicket with narration by David Hyde Pierce.


    Recent seasons in Frankfurt have included several notable debuts for Hall: title role Serse, title role in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba, Charlotte in Werther, Irene in Händel’s Tamerlano, Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Dido in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo, and Fulvia in Gluck’s Ezio. Frankfurt audiences have also seen her as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Zweite Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Other European highlights include Cherubino at the Bayerische Staatsoper with Ivor Bolton, Zaida in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia in Aix-en-Provence, led by Christoper Alden and Marc Minkowski, and her debut at Opera Holland Park in the title role of Serse. Hall made her Russian debut singing Der Komponist with Vladimir Jurowski and the Moscow Philharmonic Society, a role she has also performed at the Palau de les Arts, Valencia conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and in the US at the Tanglewood Festival conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.


    Further highlights of Hall’s work in North America include an acclaimed debut as Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in a new production directed by James Darrah and conducted by Christopher Allen at Opera Omaha. Kevin Hanrahan of Opera News wrote, “It was Cecelia Hall who outshone them all as Romeo. The dynamic flexibility with which Hall sang, shaping every phrase with dramatic intention, was a delightful example of bel canto singing.” Other highlights include Don Ramiro in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at the Santa Fe Opera, conducted by Harry Bicket and directed by Tim Albery; Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Canadian Opera Company, conducted by Rory MacDonald and directed by Joan Font; Sesto in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, conducted by Stephen Lord, directed by Stephen Lawless, and the Page in Strauss’ Salome with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Hall has sung multiple times with Opera Philadelphia: as Ruby Thewes in the east coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain, conducted by Corrado Rovaris, directed by Leonard Foglia, and as Clorinda and Sorrel in War Stories (a double bill of Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Beecher’s I Have No Stories To Tell You), conducted by Gary Wedow, directed by Robin Guarino as part of the inaugural Festival 017, for which she was featured on the cover of Opera News. Hall sang Wellgunde and Rossweisse in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen for Seattle Opera conducted by Asher Fisch and directed by Stephen Wadsworth, which was recorded for commercial release.


    An alumna of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, Hall received much critical acclaim for her turn there as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito with Sir Andrew Davis and David McVicar and for her performance in the title role of Händel’s Teseo at Chicago Opera Theater. As an alumna of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she has appeared at the Met as Javotte in Massenet’s Manon and as Second Priestess in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride.


    A noted recitalist, Hall has appeared several times at Carnegie Hall, in a Spotlight recital and gala with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and with Carnegie’s own Ensemble ACJW. In Frankfurt, she gave a much-lauded Liederabend with Hilko Dumno. As a Samling Artist, she sang in recital with Sir Thomas Allen and Malcolm Martineau at Wigmore Hall. Hall made her Mostly Mozart debut as the mezzo soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem with Louis Langrée and appeared with the Bay Atlantic Symphony singing Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Eté.


    An alumna of The Juilliard School and DePaul University, Hall is a recipient of a 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, a 2012 Brian Dickie Outstanding Young Singer Award, the 2013 Lynne Harvey Foundation Scholarship from the Musician’s Club of Women, and Third Prize from the 2013 Gerda Lissner Foundation.

    2025/26 season / 1,111 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Concert repertoire

BACH                                          
BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust 
St John Passion


BERLIOZ
Les Nuits d’Été   


BOULANGER
Psalm 130 


BRAHMS
Ophelia Lieder
Viola Songs                                                      


CHAUSSON
Chanson perpetuelle
Poème de l’amour et de la mer 


MENDELSSOHN
A Midsummer Night's Dream 


MAHLER
Rückert Lieder 


MOZART
Mass in C minor
Requiem 


RAVEL
Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarme
Chansons madécasses


RESPIGHI
Il Tramonto 


SCHUMANN
Frauenliebe und -leben


TCHAIKOVSKY
Selected orchestral songs


VIVALDI
Gloria 


ZELENKA
Il Serpente di Bronzo

Opera repertoire

ADAMS
The death of Klinghoffer (Omar) 


BEECHER
I have no stories to tell you (Sorrel) 


BELLINI
I Capuleti e I Montecchi (Romeo) 


BERLIOZ
La Damnation de Faust (Marguerite) 


BERNSTEIN
Trouble in Tahiti (Dinah) 


BIZET
Carmen (Carmen, Mercédès) 


CAVALLI
Eliogabalo (Eliogabalo)
L’Egisto (Climene) 


GLUCK
Ezio (Fulvia)                   


HAGEN
Amelia (Amelia) 


HANDEL
Ariodante (Ariodante)
Tamerlano (Irene)
Teseo (Teseo)
Xerxes (Xerxes) 


JENIFFER HIGDON
Cold Mountain (Ruby) 


HUMPERDINCK
Hänsel und Gretel (Hänsel)


MAGNARD
Guercoeur (La Bonté )​


MASCAGNI
Iris (Geisha/Dhia)​


MASSENET
Werther (Charlotte)
 
MONTEVERDI
Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Clorinda)
L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone) 


MOZART
Ascanio in Alba (Ascanio)
Così fan tutte (Dorabella)
Die Zauberflöte (Zweite Dame)
Don Giovanni (Zerlina)
Idomeneo (Idamante)
La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto, Annio)
La Finta Giardiniera (Ramiro)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) 


OFFENBACH
Les contes d’Hoffmann (Nicklausse) 


PURCELL
Dido and Aeneas (Dido) 


RAVEL
L’enfant et les sortilèges (L’enfant)
L’heure Espagnole (Concepción) 


REIMANN
Melusine (Madame Laperouse)


ROSSINI
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)
La Cenerentola (Angelina)​


SCHUBERT
Fierrebras (Florinda)


STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (Der Komponist)
Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)
Elektra (Dritte Magd)
Salome (The Page of Herodias)  


WAGNER
Das Rheingold (Wellgunde)
Die Walküre (Roßweiße)
Götterdämmerung (Wellgunde)


WEINBERG
Die Passagierin (Vlasta)

"Cecelia Hall shines in the trouser role of the impatient Ascanio."

Markus Gründig, Kulturfreak.de, December 2023

"The bright, overtone-rich mezzo and the extremely cultivated performance made this well-known number seem new - the sound beguiling, the floating notes miraculous. Like many others, it was sung in the original Italian, while the recitatives were generally heard in German translation. In "Se bramate" and ”Crude furie”, the singer impressed with brilliant aplomb and bravura mastery of the coloratura roulades."

Bernd Hoppe, Der Opernfreund, May 2023

"Ojalá Strauss hubiera dado más líneas al atribulado compositor porque la mezzo Cecelia Hall cuidó cada detalle, fraseó con auténtica intención y gusto y demostró poseer una voz sinceramente bella."

"If only Strauss had given more lines to the troubled Composer, because mezzo Cecelia Hall took such care over every detail, phrased with genuine intent and taste, and showcased a truly beautiful voice."

Ismael G Cabral, OperaActual, December 2024

Intermusica represents Cecelia Hall worldwide

Camilla Wehmeyer
Associate Director, Vocal & Opera
+44 7973 614630
cwehmeyer@intermusica.com

Mary Donald
Associate Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera
+44 20 7608 9935
mdonald@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Contralto

Avery Amereau

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles