Biography
Known for her ability to bring great musical and theatrical depth to her performances, soprano Carrie Hennessey is a powerful and talented artist.
Ms. Hennessey’s embodiment of the title role in the West Coast Premiere of Tobias Picker’s opera Emmeline earned her a nomination in the 2010 Bay Area Broadway World Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Local). She brought “exquisite vocal purity and range to the title role” and was “nothing short of sensational”. With West Bay Opera as Mimì in La Bohème, she was said to be “..possessed of a full, powerful lyric soprano, which delivers Puccini’s arias and duets richly. Her “Mi chiamano Mimì” (Yes, they call me Mimì) in Act 1 is gorgeous". On only one day’s notice, Ms. Hennessey made her debut with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, to great acclaim.
2012/13 Ms. Hennessey will be making several appearances with Sacramento Opera in concert as well as singing the role of Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Other performances include Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate!, the Faure Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Duruflé Requiem, several concert and recital appearances and a European tour as soprano soloist in the Mozart Mass in C minor and the stunningly dramatic and rarely performed Dvorak Requiem. 2011/2012 engagements included her European debut at the International Mahler Festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic singing Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, her NYC debut in Poulenc's French melodrama La Voix Humaine, as well as performances of the Mozart Mass in C minor, Mahler’s Ich bin der Welt, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Grand Rapids Symphony, Carmina Burana with Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Mozart Requiem with Modesto Symphony Orchestra, and the Dvorak Requiem, along with several recital, concert and Master Class appearances. In the 2010/2011 season, Ms. Hennessey debuted as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly. She also appeared as soprano soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and with the renowned Pacific Symphony in Handel’s Messiah. With the Oakland East Bay Symphony in the Brahms Requiem, Hennessey brought “bright tone and elegant legato”. She has also appeared with Townsend Opera Players as Hanna (The Merry Widow), and with Sacramento Opera as Giannetta (L’Elisir d’Amore) and Edith (Pirates of Penzance), as soprano soloist in Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella at the Mendocino Music Festival and with members of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for Voice and Eight Cellos.
Ms. Hennessey utilized her theatrical background by working with the Sacramento Opera and Sacramento Children’s Chorus to stage direct the April 2010 run of Brundibar and worked with Sacramento Opera’s Education and Outreach program to direct and perform in the opera Green Eggs and Ham with students in Rocklin, CA . Ms. Hennessey continues education work with the Napa Valley Youth Symphony and by performing programs in elementary schools in Berkeley, CA along with conductor Ming Luke and members of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra.