Rebecca Folsom, mezzo-soprano, has appeared in performances with the Fort Worth Opera, Utah Festival Opera, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, the Royal Academy of Music Vocal Institute, and the St. Charles Music Festival in Chicago. Dr. Folsom has performed as soloist with numerous ensembles in works such as Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, and Bernstein’s Songfest. Her operatic repertoire runs the gamut from Mozart, Puccini, Menotti, Handel, Verdi, Rossini, and Britten to more contemporary works including the workshop premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s opera Frau Margot. She was the winner of the Naftzger Young Artist Award, the Missouri Federation of Music Clubs and recipient of a full fellowship to the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
Dr. Folsom maintains a large studio of singers who have appeared at prestigious venues such as The Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass, The Dallas Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, St. Louis Opera, Wolftrap, Central City Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and in theaters in Germany, Italy, France, and Israel. Her students have won and been finalists in national competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Richard and Sara Tucker Awards, the Jensen Foundation Awards, Oratorio Society of New York Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Lois Alba Competition.
Dr. Folsom has served as a voice teacher/vocal consultant for young artist programs at Dallas Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Israeli Opera, Seagle Music Colony, Flagstaff in Fidenza Italy, Boston Conservatory Opera Intensive in Valencia, Spain, Bel Canto in Tuscany Opera Program, Fairbanks Arts Festival, and the Big Bear Song Festival. In addition, Dr. Folsom has published in The NATS Journal of Singing, the Music Education Journal of China, the Society of American Music Journal, and Opera America. She has appeared in lectures for The College Music Society, the Society of American Music, The Hans de Roo International Conference for Operatic Young Artist Programs, Opera America and in countless master classes across the United States and in Europe.
Dr. Folsom is a Professor of Voice at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she was recently awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award. Her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Vocal Performance is from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.