SAMANTHA HANKEY
Contact
Imogen Lewis Holland (Managing Director):
Praised as “luscious,” “amber-toned,” and “dazzling” by Opera News, American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey is quickly establishing a name for herself across the United States and abroad. This past season, Samantha joined the roster of the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she made her role and house debut as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel. She continues her residency in Munich for the 2020-2021 season, where she reprises the roles of Wellgunde Das Rheingold and Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte and makes her role debut in a new production as Octavian Der Rosenkavalier. Sadly, due to the Covid 19 crisis, Samantha's anticipated return to the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, where she was to debut the role of Stéphano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette will be delayed into future seasons, but she looks forward to concert appearances with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra as Octavian conducted by Maestro Jurowski.
Samantha’s abridged 2019-20 season featured numerous role reprisals with the Bayerische Staatsoper in addition to her house debut with The Dallas Opera in the role of Zweite Dame. In the 2018/19 season, Samantha made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pantalis Mefistofele, and returned to the Met throughout the year in Adriana Lecouvreur, Carmen, Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung, and Rigoletto, debuting a myriad of named roles. She also traveled to Turku, Finland to renew the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro, where she was praised by Turun Sanomat for her “marvelously rich mezzo.”
Other highlights of Samantha’s recent engagements include major role and house debuts as Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro at Opernhaus Zürich, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia at Den Norske Opera Oslo, and Siébel in Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Showreel
Reviews
2nd Lady, Mozart's The Magic Flute
Samantha Hankey, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume
The Dallas Opera, Texas, USA
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Siébel, Gounod's Faust
Samantha Hankey, conducted by Michel Plasson
Grand Théâtre de Genève
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Rosina, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia
Samantha Hankey, conducted by Roberto Benzi
Den Norske Oper
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OPERA
George BIZET
Mercédès Carmen
Francesco CAVALLI
Diana & Diana in Giove La Calisto
Francesco CILEA
Mlle Dangeville Adriana Lecouvreur
Jonathan DOVE
Minskwoman Flight
Charles GOUNOD
Siebel Faust
Stéphano Roméo et Juliette
GF HANDEL
Ruggiero Alcina
Agrippina Agrippina
Zenobia Radamisto
Engelbert HUMPERDINK
Hansel Hansel und Gretel
Jules MASSENET
Prince Charming Cendrillion
WA MOZART
Sesto La Clemenza di Tito
Dorabella Cosi fan tutte
Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro
Maurice RAVEL
La tasse chinoise L’enfant et les sortilèges
Giacomo ROSSINI
Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia
Angelina La Cenerentola
Richard STRAUSS
Octavian Der Rosenkavalier
Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos
Richard WAGNER
Wellgunde Das Rheingold
Wellgunde Götterdämmerung
Competitions
2018 Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Career grant
2018 Operalia 2nd Prizewinner, Birgit Nilsson Prizewinner
2018 The Glyndebourne Opera Cup, First Prize
2017 Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship
2017 Dallas Opera Guild first prize
2017 The Metropolitan Opera National Council, Winner
2017 The Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition, First Prize
2016 The Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Foundation Scholarship Competition
2016 The Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder & Song Vocal Competition, Grant
2016 The Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Sara Tucker Study Grant
2016 The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Grant
2016 The Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, Third Prize
2015 Opera Index, The Lissner Charitable Fund Award
2011 & 2015 The Hal Leonard Vocal Competition, First Place