Faculty Profile for Professor Daveda Karanas Brecheen

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Greek-American mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas has been hailed for her “capacious power” and “a voice lustrous and exciting.” (San Francisco Chronicle). During the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Karanas made her house and role debut as The Mikado in The Montana Mikado with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, performed the Narrator in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, and debuted in a series of opera concerts with Festival de Musique de Saint-Barth conducted by Steven Mercurio. Future seasons will see Ms. Karanas at Teatro Real, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Inland Northwest Opera, and LaGrange Symphony Orchestra.

Engagements postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic included her house debut as Liese in The Passenger with Teatro Real, her role and house debut as Herodias in Salome with Hawaii Opera Theatre, and performances as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with New Orleans Opera. During the pandemic, Ms. Karanas curated and presented recitals of unknown works, focusing on the preservation and dissemination of vocal music by Jewish composers, especially those affected by the Holocaust.

Recently, Ms. Karanas made her Carnegie Hall debut in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Athens Philharmonic conducted by Yiannis Hadjiloizou and made her debut at The Israeli Opera singing Liese in The Passenger, a role she has performed at Florida Grand Opera and Michigan Opera Theater following her successful debut of the role at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent engagements include a major role debut as Kundry in Parsifal at the Lyric Opera of Chicago under Sir Andrew Davis, and debuts at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites and with the Auckland Philharmonia as Brangäne in concert performances of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

Internationally, Ms. Karanas made an acclaimed European debut at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle under Zsolt Hamar in the festival’s 75th Anniversary. She also her German debut at Oper Frankfurt as Marfa in Khovanshchina and debuted at the Canadian Opera Company as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde conducted by Johannes Debus and directed by Peter Sellars. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in their production of the Berlioz masterpiece, Les Troyens, covering the role of Cassandre, debuted the role of Azucena in Il trovatore at Opera Grand Rapids and sang her first Amneris in Aida at Arizona Opera, followed by performances of the role with Vancouver Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello. Additionally, she made her New Orleans Opera debut as Hasbeena in Burlesque Opera Tabasco and returned to Arizona Opera as Ježibaba in Rusalka and Fricka in Das Rheingold.

Ms. Karanas completed her first complete Ring Cycle at San Francisco Opera under Donald Runnicles. In Francesca Zambello’s staging, she sang both Waltraute and the 2nd Norn in the new production of Götterdämmerung and Waltraute in Die Walküre. Other San Francisco Opera credits include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Mamka in Boris Godunov, Mistress of Novices in Suor Angelica, and covering Amneris in Aida and Azucena in Il trovatore. She also covered Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with Seattle Opera and covered Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with Saito Kinen Festival conducted by Seiji Ozawa.

Ms. Karanas is a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She also received an Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, was an International Semi-Finalist in the Neue Stimmen Competition, an Encouragement Award recipient at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and Grand Prize Winner of the Arizona Opera League Competition.

She is a graduate of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera. Ms. Karanas further trained at esteemed institutions including Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, Chicago Opera Theater, and Boston University Opera Institute. Ms. Karanas is a graduate of Arizona State University and Southeastern Louisiana University.

Teaching Interests

Art Song, Opera, Orchestral Works.

Research Interests

Perform classical works where the language is outside of the classical vernacular (Italian, German, French, English). Perform works written during World War II, especially from those who were victims and/or survivors of the Holocaust.