​Cassidy Smith   Mezzo Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Cassidy Smith recently performed with Chicago Opera Theater to critical acclaim as the Drummer in The Emperor of Atlantis and the Third Witch in Ernst Bloch’s Macbeth. Other recent roles include Marchesa Melibea in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims and the Old Lady in Michael Torke’s Strawberry Fields. This season she performed Bessie in Kurt Weil’s rarely seen Mahagonny Songspiel. Cassidy is a former Opera Colorado Young Artist, where she performed in the educational productions and student matinees as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, the title role in Carmen, and Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette. Other roles include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mercédès in Carmen, Giannetta in The Elixir of Love, and The Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed numerous works including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, and Telemann’s St. Luke’s Passion. As the alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Opus Colorado praised Cassidy for her “dramatic voice and such excellent diction….What a future she will have.” Originally from Denver, Colorado, Cassidy received her Bachelor of Music and Performance Certificate from the University of Denver, Lamont School of Music where she studied with Kate Emerich. Cassidy also received a Professional Diploma in Opera from Chicago College of Performing Arts, under the tutelage of Judith Haddon and Scott Gilmore.