U P C O M I N G
Upcoming engagements TBA
Apr.26
"...glorious, soaring lyricism..."
Arkansas Times
B I O
Praised by the San Francisco Examiner for her “utterly fearless” portrayal of Cio-Cio San with San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Young Artist Program, Maria Fasciano is a three-time Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Regional Finalist (2008, 2011, 2013). She has also earned awards from the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition and the Rochester Oratorio Classical Idol Competition.
During her time at Merola she performed as the titular character in Act II of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly to great acclaim in the Schwabacher Concert Series as well as portraying the title role in scenes from Verdi’s Luisa Miller. She also garnered great praise for the “fiery passion” (Berkeley Daily Planet) in her portrayal of Nedda from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci in the Merola Grand Finale concert.
Most recently, Maria has appeared with Mobile Opera and Druid City Opera as Floria Tosca in Tosca. She has also performed with Opera Memphis in numerous galas, outreach performances and as The Queen of the Night in their Children's Production of The Magic Flute. She has been featured with Opera in the Rock (Little Rock, AR) as Mimì in La bohème and as The First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in collaboration with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in addition to singing selections from Norma and Der Rosenkavalier in their annual gala. She has also performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra during their holiday concert series, Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and as the soprano soloist in their performances of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Maria has also performed roles with Chautauqua Opera and New Rochelle Opera. Off of the operatic stage, Maria has been a soloist with the Arkansas Chamber Music Society, Arkansas Choral Society, Little Rock Choral Society, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Parkway Symphony Orchestra, Monroe Symphony Orchestra, and Texarkana Symphony.
R E P E R T O I R E
Micaela - Carmen - Georges Bizet
Lady Billows - Albert Herring - Benjamin Britten
Rooster/Protestor/Hen - The Cunning Little Vixen - Janáček
Noémie - Cendrillon - Jules Massenet
Fiordiligi - Così fan tutte - W.A. Mozart
Arminda - La Finta Giardiniera - W.A. Mozart
Donna Anna - Don Giovanni - W.A. Mozart
Madame Goldentrill - The Impresario - W.A. Mozart
First Lady - The Magic Flute - W.A. Mozart
Queen of the Night – The Magic Flute – W.A. Mozart
Blanche DuBois - A Streetcar Named Desire - Andre Previn
Mimì - La bohème - Giacomo Puccini
Cio-Cio San - Madama Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini
Angelica - Suor Angelica - Giacomo Puccini
Floria Tosca – Tosca – Giacomo Puccini
Berta - Il barbiere di Siviglia - Gioachino Rossini
Roselinde - Die Fledermaus - J. Strauss
Elisabeth – Tannhäuser – Richard Wagner
Symphony No. 9 - Beethoven
Ein Deutsches Requiem - Brahms
Requiem - Duruflé
Requiem - Faure
Lord Nelson Mass – Haydn
Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Mahler
Coronation Mass - W. A. Mozart
Requiem – W. A. Mozart
Stabat Mater - Pergolesi
Gloria - Poulenc
Requiem – Rutter
Mass in G - Schubert
Vier Letzte Lieder - Strauss
Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 5 - Villa Lobos
Wesendonck Lieder - Wagner
A W A R D S
Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year // Lorena Bessey Mangin Memorial Award & Audience Choice // 2015
Elizabeth Connell Prize for Dramatic Soprano // Semi-Finalist // 2014
Rochester Classical Idol Competition // 3rd Place // 2014
Marcello Giordani Competition // Semi-Finalist // 2014
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions // Mid-South Regional Finalist // 2013
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions // Great Lakes Regional Finalist // 2011
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions // Great Lakes Regional Finalist // 2008
P R E S S
"Fasciano's bold tenor featured much in the Gloria, effortlessly filled the room. Gloria is built to give the soprano soloist a huge moment at the end. Fasciano was up to it and then some and effectively put a bow on a gift of an evening."
-Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Werner Treischmann
"The Eastman-trained Maria Fasciano sings the [Wesendonck] Lieder, and nobody will give a whit that the songs - most often performed by mezzosopranos - are being sung instead by someone with a leviathan high C in her possession, because the richness of Fasciano's middle range rivals that of most mezzos anyway. -Arkansas Times, 1/18/2016, Stephanie Smittle
"Soprano Maria Fasciano, in front of 28 members of the orchestra and conductor Philip Mann, simply blew away listeners in the dimly illuminated church. Fasciano's full voice is gorgeously suited both to the setting and the music." -Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 1/20/2017, Eric E. Harrison
"...and those of us who have heard her gala performances with Opera in the Rock have collectively swooned over her magnificently controlled pianissimos and her glorious, soaring lyricism in arias like "I Want Magic" and "Un bel di." -Arkansas Times, 5/12/2016, Stephanie Smittle
"...Maria Fasciano aced the fifth movement "Ihr habt nun traurigkeit." -Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 2/28/2016, Eric E. Harrison
"On the tragic side, Fasciano emerged with the most memorable performance in the title role of the excerpt from the second act of Madama Butterfly. This is the scene that leads up to the arrival of Pinkerton’s ship in the harbor and includes the first appearance of the son born of Cio-Cio San after her wedding to Pinkerton. Recently, there has been a tendency to present Cio-Cio San as a woman whose passions have detached her from reality. It is almost as if the bel canto tradition of the mad scene has been expanded to fill the entire opera, although it takes the viewer a bit of time to appreciate just how precarious Cio-Cio San’s mental state really is. Rallo seems to have decided to pursue this approach, and Fasciano was utterly fearless in following him into every one of the dark corners exposed over the course of the excerpt she performed. Under Rallo’s staging, every other character on stage had his/her individual devices to remind the audience of the underlying reality of the situation. Within the context that they set, Fasciano’s Cio-Cio San took on an almost painful sense of detachment, escalating what is too often dismissed as mere melodrama to a level of far more substantive tragedy." -San Francisco Examiner, 7/18/2014, Stephen Smoliar
"Another surprise, at least for me, was soprano Maria Fasciano, whom I had not heard before. Ms. Fasciano sang the role of Nedda in an ensemble scene from Leoncavallo’s I PAGLIACCI. In this heated duet of love and lust, Maria Fasciano boldly portrayed her mixed feelings: She is physically drawn to Silvio yet evinces some remorse about betraying her husband Canio. -Berkeley Daily Planet, 8/22/2014, James Roy MacBean
"On the more serious side the most effective scene was "Decidi il mio destin" (decide my fate), the love duet between Nedda (Maria Fasciano) and Silvio (Alexander Elliott) in the first act of Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (clowns). Those who saw the Schwabacher Summer Concert may recall the sparks set off by Fasciano and Elliott in their flesh-and-blood account of the scene from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in which Cio-Cio San scorns the suit of Prince Yamadori. Last night they converted that scene of rejection into one of the uninhibited raw passion of a forbidden encounter, once again bringing lightning bolts to their performance." -San Francisco Examiner, 8/17/2014, Stephen Smoliar
"Maria Fasciano was a compelling Nedda during a scene from I Pagliacci." -A Beast in a Jungle, John Marcher, 8/17/14
A U D I O
P H O T O S
V I D E O
INSTRUCTION
As you might have guessed, I am passionate about Opera and singing. Of all the art forms around in the 21st century, Opera is one of the few remaining where the communication is 1:1 - one human voice falling upon one set of human ears with no amplification. I love singing because I love being part of this beautiful, four hundred plus year old art form and I want to help others express themselves through music.
During my doctoral work at University of Memphis I maintained a studio as a graduate assistant and taught applied voice to instrumentalists and non-majors. I also served as an adjunct professor at University of Arkansas at Jonesboro where I directed their opera workshop program and music directed in connection with the theater department.
I have taught all levels of singers from age 10 to adulthood in all different styles.
Please contact me to discuss scheduling and rates!