Korliss Uecker is an American operatic
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
from
Hettinger, North Dakota
Hettinger ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Adams County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 1,074 at the 2020 census.
North Dakota State University operates a livestock research station near Hettinger, which often partners ...
. With a Masters of Music from the
Juilliard School, she performed over 100 times at the
Metropolitan Opera singing roles such as Susanna in ''
Le nozze di Figaro'' and Papagena in ''
The Magic Flute''.
She has also appeared with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera and the Spoleto Festival, among others. In addition to opera, Uecker sings a wide variety of vocal music including
lieder
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
, French chansons,
cabaret,
jazz and American musical theatre.
Early life
Korliss Uecker was born and raised in Hettinger, North Dakota. Her father Charles was a veterinarian and her mother Edna, a housewife and writer.
She grew up with two siblings, Jonathan and Sherida.
Uecker studied singing in high school and then studied science and music at the
University of North Dakota, where she graduated with both a
Bachelor of Science and
Bachelor of Arts. During college at UND she also sang professionally in a jazz band named Blue Skies, which helped finance her undergraduate studies. After undergraduate work, Uecker was accepted at the
Juilliard School in 1983.
In the summer of 1984 she attended the
Music Academy of the West conservatory program.
She was a member of the Juilliard Opera Center and earned her
Master of Music degree in 1990. She worked as a registered nurse while she attended Juilliard, chiefly in the medical surgical unit and in orthopedics at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Music career
After graduating from Juilliard in 1990, she worked for two summers as an apprentice with
Santa Fe Opera, and in November 1991 made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Gianetta in ''
L'elisir d'amore
''L'elisir d'amore'' (''The Elixir of Love'', ) is a ' (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's ' (1831). The opera premiere ...
'' with Luciano Pavarotti.
[ Metropolitan Opera archives]
Uecker, Korliss (Soprano)
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uecker, Korliss
Living people
American operatic sopranos
Singers from North Dakota
Juilliard School alumni
University of North Dakota alumni
People from Adams County, North Dakota
20th-century American women opera singers
21st-century American women opera singers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Music Academy of the West alumni