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biography

Hailed by the press as a "radiant and confident" performer, mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke has sung with many of America’s foremost companies. Her roles with New York City Opera, Opera Omaha, Chautauqua Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Connecticut Opera, Virginia Opera, New Orleans Opera and Nevada Opera have earned her the praise and respect of reviewers, music professionals and audience members alike.

Cherry’s "striking voice-acting and stage movement" is especially evident in complex leading roles such as Carmen, Nero in The Coronation of Poppea (Opera Omnia), Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (New York City Opera Japan Tour, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Ash Lawn Opera Festival) and Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (New York Chamber Opera). She has sung the title roles in Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, The Rape of Lucretia and Carmen as well as principal mezzo-soprano roles in Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly, Die Zauberflöte, Falstaff, Rigoletto, The Mikado, La Traviata, L’enfant et les sortilèges and The Love for Three Oranges, to name a few. Cherry has performed several roles with New York City Opera and traveled to Japan with the company to cover Jo March in Little Women and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She later returned to NYCO for Madama Butterfly and the New York premiere of Mark Adamo’s second opera, Lysistrata.

Recent and upcoming opera engagements include Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena with dell'Arte Opera Ensemble, Aloes (cover) in New York City Opera's L'etoile, Rosina in The Barber of Seville with Helena Symphony Orchestra and Carmen with the St. Petersburg Opera in Florida.

A slender and agile actress, Miss Duke performs “trouser roles” with ease, “quelling any suspension of disbelief problems that can arise as woman plays man.” (Denton Record-Chronicle) Of her portrayal of Nero in The Coronation of Poppea with Opera Omnia, Opera Today raved, “Cherry Duke made a fine, unusually masculine Nerone...”

Miss Duke is frequently involved in cross-over and brand-new works. As a soloist in several seasons of New York City Opera’s VOX: Showcasing American Composers concerts, she has sung a variety of styles, including roles in Scott Davenport Richards’ jazz opera, Charlie Crosses the Nation and Gordon Beeferman’s post-modern Ratland. At the Bard SummerScape Festival she was featured in the world premiere of Carl Hancock Rux and Diedre Murray’s “cabaret opera,” The Blackamoor Angel. Miss Duke also thrives in classic musical theater. Of her Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific with Ash Lawn Opera Festival, The Daily Progress said, “Cherry Duke [was] spunky and exuberant and sang and danced her way into our hearts.” Upcoming engagements include the world premiere of The Life and Love of Joe Coogan, based on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke show. Cherry plays Sally Rogers.

In concert, Cherry Duke has performed as a soloist with orchestras from coast to coast, including appearances at major halls such as Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. Miss Duke was a featured soloist in Karl Jenkin’s The Armed Man, Falla's El Amor Brujo, Bach’s B-Minor Mass, St. John’s Passion and Weihnachts-Oratorium, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy, Duruflé’s Requiem, several Haydn masses, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Vesperes Solennes, Vaughan-Williams’ Magnificat, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio and of course, Händel’s Messiah, as well as several orchestral "Pops" concerts. Recent and upcoming orchestral concerts include Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Choral Society of the Hamptons and a Messiah in Orlando with frequent collaborator, conductor Dr. John V. Sinclair.

A Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions New York District Winner, Cherry is the recipient of many awards, including the Grand Prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Young Artist Competition and the Liederkranz Foundation Voice Competition.

Fort Worth, Texas native Cherry Duke graduated summa cum laude from Texas Woman’s University where she studied with prolific vocal pedagogy and diction textbook author Joan Wall. She received her graduate degree in Opera from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Cherry Duke resides in New York City.