Michèle Crider

Michèle Crider (born 1959 in Quincy, Illinois) is an American lirico spinto operatic soprano. She has appeared in many of the great opera house in the world including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera and the state operas of Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. She has sung under Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Nello Santi, Christoph von Dohnányi, Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Chailly and Colin Davis. She is professor of vocal performance at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.

Background and early career Crider was born in Illinois and raised in a family of 10 children. After graduating Quincy Senior High School, Crider became a first-generation college student and earned her undergraduate degree in music at Culver-Stockton College. She then went on to earn a master's degree in vocal performance at the University of Iowa, where she performed her first opera role in Madama Butterfly and came to the attention of University of Iowa alumnus Simon Estes. She won the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions twice. Afterwards she left Iowa and went to Zürich, where she continued her studies at the studio of the Zurich Opera House.

In 1988, she was the finalist of the Luciano Pavarotti competition. In 1989, she won one of the three first prizes at the Geneva International Music Competition. This prize directly led to her engagement as Leonora in Il trovatore in Dortmund and to her participation in the International Grand Prix, which she then won. Crider has recorded Amelia in Un ballo in maschera for Teldec under Carlo Rizzi, Elena and Margherita in Mefistofele under the baton of Riccardo Muti for BMG Classics, Verdi's Requiem under Richard Hickox with the London Symphony Orchestra for Chandos Records and the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre on Decca under Christoph von Dohnanyi.

In 2018, Crider received an honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) from University of Iowa. to the Vienna State Opera as Tosca, to Budapest and Mannheim as Leonora in La forza del destino, to the Aalto Theatre in Essen in the title role of Norma, made her Lisbon debut with Verdi's Messa da Requiem, was Tosca at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, and the Prague State Opera, was in Tel Aviv as Leonora in Il trovatore and as La gioconda, in Essen and Lecce as Aida, in Hamburg as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, and was heard with the Jerusalem Symphony in Verdi's Messa da Requiem.

Opera houses and performances Since 1991, Crider has been heard regularly in the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Metropolitan Opera in New York,

Recordings Her recordings include Verdi's Requiem under Richard Hickox in 1996 (Chandos) and Sir Colin Davis in 1997, Aida, Beethoven's Ninth, and Leonora in Il trovatore.