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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 Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (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 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.
In May of 2005, Cherry traveled to Japan with NEW YORK CITY OPERA 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.
The role of Hansel has become a regular fixture in Miss Duke’s career. She has performed it over 250 times across the United States in at least five different translations. She performs a variety of other “trouser roles” with ease, “quelling any suspension of disbelief problems that can arise as woman plays man.” (Denton Record-Chronicle) These roles include Stephano in Romeo et Juliette, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and the title role in the mystery-musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, among others. Upcoming engagements include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Helena Symphony Orchestra.
A versatile and intelligent singing actress, Cherry is frequently involved in cross-over and brand-new works. She has sung principal parts in the last two seasons of New York City Opera’s VOX: Showcasing American Composers and has thrived in cross-over shows such as Music Theater Group’s The Rose Project and Bard SummerScape’s world premiere of The Blackamoor Angel. As well, Cherry’s versatility was showcased in her portrayal of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific (Ash Lawn Opera Festival). “Nellie Forbush, played by Cherry Duke, is spunky and exuberant and sang and danced her way into our hearts.” (The Daily Progress)
In concert, Cherry Duke has performed with the Helena Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Ventura Chamber Music Festival and San Bernadino Symphony Orchestra. At Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center), she has sung solos in Handel’s Messiah. Also at Carnegie Hall, Cherry sang the alto solos in Beethoven’s Mass in C and Schubert’s Mass in B-flat. She has also performed solos in Falla's El Amor Brujo, Bach’s B-Minor Mass and Weihnachts-Oratorium, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan-Williams’ Magnificat and Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, and several orchestral "Pops" concerts.
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.
A Fort Worth, Texas native, Cherry 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 makes her home in New York City.