Faculty Profile for Cheryl Ann Parrish

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Soprano, Cheryl Parrish, is best known for her sensitive and moving portrayals of Mozart and Strauss heroines. She has performed in major operatic, symphony and recital venues around the world. Her career began at the San Francisco Opera where she was chosen to participate in the inaugural group of Adler Fellow Program and was catapulted to prominence by the televised program "Pavarotti Plus! Live from Lincoln Center." Appearances include The Mostly Mozart Festival at Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, the Ravinia Festival, Cleveland Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Houston Grand Opera, The Chautauqua Institute, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, The Canadian Opera Company, Zurich Opera, Opera Köln, and Maggio Musicale in Florence, Italy, Santa Fe Opera, Vancouver and Calgary Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, and many more.

Recent engagements include the North American Premiere of Michelaw Weinberg’s THE PASSENGER, presented by Houston Grand Opera at the 2013 Lincoln Center Summer Opera Festival. In it, she was cast in the role of Senior Overseer/Capo. Also for Houston, she sang the role of Kitty Hart in DEAD MAN WALKING released on DVD celebrating the operatic farewell of mezzo-soprano, Fredericka von Staade and was a member of the HGO SHOWBOAT cast as Parthy Ann Hawks.


Miss Parrish begins her thirteeth year on the voice faculty of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She has taught voice at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Maiori, Italy as well as directed their production of Le Nozze di Figaro, and been on the faculty for two summers at the Land of Enchantment Opera Institute in Gallup, New Mexico. From 2002-2004, she was the Director of the Young Artist Program at the Austin Lyric Opera.
She has given master classes around the country at high schools and universities. She holds degrees in Vocal Performance from Baylor University and Texas State University and studied abroad at the Die Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria with renowned accompanist, Dr. Erik Werba. She was a two-time recipient of a San Francisco Opera Guild Grant for study in Paris, France with the late French soprano, Régine Crespin.