American mezzo Erica Brookhyser has performed extensively in the United States and Germany. Recent appearances include La Traviata with Los Angeles Philharmonic, a fully-staged performance of John Adams’ El Niño at Spoleto Festival USA, as well as her return to Los Angeles Opera as Meg Page/Falstaff. Past performances with Odyssey Opera include Brigitta/Die tote Stadt, Britten’s Phaedra, and Dienerin/Die ägyptische Helena.
Brookhyser was the winner of ARTE-TV “Open Opera: Who will become Carmen?”—a reality talent-search television show that aired in Germany and France in 2012. The acclaimed Carmen production was broadcast live from the Berlin Seefestspiele.
During her four-year tenure as principal mezzo at Staatstheater Darmstadt Ms. Brookhyser’s repertoire included Carmen/Carmen, Didon/Les Troyens, Suzuki/Madama Butterfly, Muse-Nicklausse/Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Cherubino/Le Nozze di Figaro, Orfeo/Orfeo ed Euridice, Fenena/Nabucco, Preziosilla/La Forza del Destino, Lola/Cavalleria Rusticana, Wellgunde-Waltraute-Second Norn/Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Brangäne/Tristan und Isolde. She also sang Wellgunde/Das Rheingold at Nationaltheater Mannheim for their season premiere Ring Cycle, and Carmen in the holiday performances of Carmen at Theater Erfurt.
Her concert appearances include Moses und Aron with Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Levine, Bach St. Matthew Passion and Mozart Mass in C-minor with the Cincinnati May Festival conducted by James Conlon, Das Lied von der Erde and Wesendonck Lieder with Orchester Staatstheater Darmstadt under the baton of Elias Grandy, and Mahler Rückert Lieder with the Newport Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adam Flatt.
Ms. Brookhyser made her professional debut as Myrtale/Thaïs with Boston Lyric Opera while still a student at New England Conservatory. She received further training in the Plácido Domingo Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera where she performed on the mainstage as Waltraute/Die Walküre, Mercedes/Carmen, Mother/Die Gezeichneten, Annina/La Traviata, and Kate Pinkerton/Madama Butterfly.