MAGGIE FINNEGAN
MAGGIE FINNEGAN
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Hailed by Opera News for her “clear, poised and defiant soprano” and the Washington Post for her “silvery, pitch-perfect voice,” Maggie Finnegan’s versatile repertoire spans the medieval to the contemporary. Ms. Finnegan was announced as one of the S&R Foundation's Washington Award winners and First Place winner and Audience Favorite in the Washington International Competition for Voice affording her a debut at the Kennedy Center.
Recent and upcoming: she appeared in recital at Vanderbilt University accompanied by masterclasses; returned to the Brooklyn Art Song Society in a program of Webern songs; was Little Stone in Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice with Boston Lyric Opera conducted by the composer; was Virginia Poe in Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe with Odyssey Opera, recorded by Boston Modern Orchestra; soloed with the Cantata Singers in Sandstroem's Messiah; and, was soloist with the Vancouver Symphony in 2024 with Haydn's The Creation. This season: Let's Celebrate with White Snakes Project; a recording project with composer Tom Herman of cabaret songs; she is Queen of the Night with Little Orchestra Society of New York; sings the roles of Xanthe/Aphrodite (Lysistrata) with Odyssey Opera with Boston Modern Opera Project's recording of the work; soloist with M.I.T.'s Spectrum Chorus; a return to Brooklyn Art Song Society; Carmina Burana with Portsmouth Pro Musica; and a return to Boston Lyric Opera.
Maggie Finnegan sang the world première of Marc Hoffeditz’s opera U-Hauling; was Danica in Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Philadelphia's presentation of SVADBA by Ana Sokolović's; has recently completed Experiments in Opera's recording of Everything for Dawn as Anya; was the title role in Lembit Beecher's Sophia's Forest at Opera Parallèle with Nicole Paiement conducting; and created the role of Linda Lampton in Tod Machover's VALIS with M.I.T.'s Media Lab.
She premièred White Snake Projects' PermaDeath, A Video Game Opera; returned to Opera Parallèle for The Little Prince; made her Belgian operatic debut in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges; and, performed in a duo recital with Stephanie Blythe with Sparks and Wiry Cries. She made her debut with the Portland Bach Experience and performed with Boston Baroque in L’incoronazion di Poppea as Damigella. Maggie Finnegan made her Netherlands debut in the reprise of Odysseus’ Women/Anais Nin at the Andriessen Festival; was featured at National Sawdust in A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears by composer Julia Adolphe; and, returned to Boston Baroque in a concert of Vivaldi motets. She sang the role of Parthenope on a recently released recording of The Wake World by David Hertzberg on Tzadik Records and performed in Vital Opera's ongoing project of Halcyon.
She has premièred works with the Center for Contemporary Opera in Louis Andriessen's Odysseus' Women/Anais Nin (Nausica), Vital Opera in Unfinished: An Opera, The American Chamber Opera Company's Lisa's Room: A Dream Opera (Lisa), the {Re}Happening Festival in Jacob TV's Van Grote en Kleine Vogels and Drexel University’s ExCITe Center in Lembit Beecher's Sophia's Forest. She was a featured soloist in the revival of the play Extraordinary Measures, in which she worked with Tony award winning playwright/activist Eve Ensler. Her solo concert appearances include performances with the PyeongChang Winter Music Festival in South Korea, the Boston Lyric Opera Signature Series, the Halcyon Stage, the Avanti Orchestra, the New Dominion Chorale, Handel & Haydn Society, The City Choir of Washington, the Capital Fringe Chamber Music Series, Beth Morrison Projects with Contemporaneous and the LA-based performance art group My Barbarian. She is a core member of the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble The Broken Consort.
Specializing in new opera, Maggie Finnegan created the role of Arrangiarsia in the world première of Dominick DiOrio's The Little Blue One with the Juventas New Music Ensemble for which she was praised as “the opera's most captivating musical presence.” She joined the Metropolitan Opera Guild's School Touring Program of The Magic Flute bringing opera to over 2,000 children throughout the New York metro area.
She can be heard on X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X by Anthony Davis; The Wake World, by David Hertzberg; and, Everything for Dawn, with Experiments in Opera collaborative; and as Virginia Poe in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe with Boston Modern Opera Projects.
Ms. Finnegan earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and her Master of Music degree from Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
More on Maggie Finnegan at: www.maggiefinnegansoprano.com
Reviews
"At the center of the splendid cast was soprano Maggie Finnegan, whose performance as the grown-up Sophia was a marvel of crystalline tone, melodic precision and poker-faced expressiveness." -- Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
"Remarkable soprano Maggie Finnegan managed to execute unusual vocal techniques and immaculate diction in a silvery,
pitch-perfect voice." -- Anne Midgette, The Washington Post
