Mezzo-Soprano Hannah Ludwig. Photo by John Matthew Myers.
Biography
The New York Times calls mezzo-soprano Hannah Ludwig “best in show” and further exclaims “Her tone chocolaty and large, yet with focus and agility, she captured the integral aspect of bel canto…expression emerging from a long, intelligently shaped musical line.” In the 2023-24 season, she makes her debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Messiah and she joins the Des Moines Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She also rejoins Teatro Nuovo singing excerpts of Arsace in Semiramide and Calbo in Maometto II in concert as well as returns to more Rossini and the role of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Louisiane and sings the Page in Salome in her debut with the Houston Symphony. Last season she returned to the Colorado Symphony for Elgar’s Sea Pictures and made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra singing Handel’s Messiah. She returned to the roles of Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri with Eroica Berlin and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Utah Opera as well as to Dallas Opera as Floßhilde in Das Rheingold.
Her scheduled performances of Szymanowski’s Stabat mater with Gianandrea Noseda conducting the National Symphony Orchestra and her international debut with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colón Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde were cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A solo program of bel canto repertoire originally written for the castrato fach with the Bochumer Symphoniker and a return to the Columbus Symphony for Handel’s Messiah will be rescheduled.
A prolific interpreter of the repertoire of Rossini, she has joined Teatro Nuovo as Pippo in La gazza ladra, Isaura in Tancredi, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Sviglia; her performances of Calbo in Maometto II were also cancelled due to COVID-19. She sang further performances of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Annapolis Opera and on film with Opera Louisiane and, also in the bel canto realm, she sang her first performances of Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena with Baltimore Concert Opera, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Philadelphia, and excerpts of Adalgisa in Norma with the Sacramento Philharmonic. She made her Dallas Opera debut as Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte and has sung the District Attorney in Davis’ Central Park Five with Portland Opera, and Ljubica in Sokolović’s Svadba with Boston Lyric Opera.
On the concert stage, she sang her first performances of Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the Colorado Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with the Columbus Symphony, both under the baton of Rossen Milanov, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Flint Symphony Orchestra. Her other recent concert appearances include Handel's Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as well as Mozart's Requiem and Forrest's Requiem for the Living with MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall. She presented “Songs from a Distance,” a recital featuring Schubert, Argento, Boyle, and Musto as well as a series of outdoor concerts by Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera.
Ms. Ludwig is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts, at which she sang a host of roles that include Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, Charlotte in Werther, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Azucena in Il trovatore, Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and the Nurse in The Demon. With the Aspen Music Festival, she performed Ursule in Béatrice et Bénédict conducted by Johannes Debus and Sesto in La clemenza di Tito led by Maestro Jane Glover. In her home state of California, she has sung Ruggiero in Alcina at the Napa Music Festival.
She recently won second place in the 2018 Loren L Zachary Society for the Performing Arts Vocal Competition. She has received encouragement awards from the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Gulf Coast Region, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. She is also a grant winner of the Giulio Gari Vocal competition.
Prior to attending the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Ludwig received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of the Pacific.
“Pride of place goes to Hannah Ludwig, a sonorous, powerful Fricka, whose strikingly colored mezzo is evenly calibrated throughout a wide range; this is truly a star voice.”
— Philadelphia Magazine
