Mezzo-soprano Erin Neff’s dynamic performance abilities and radiant sound have earned her the veneration of her musical peers and made her an audience favorite throughout the country. “Neff’s mezzo soprano finely wove through trills and ornaments to touch our hearts, triumphant…” applauded the Pacifica Tribune. Equally at home in the operatic, lied and oratorio repertoires, Ms. Neff is much sought after in the vocal profession.
Erin Neff made her solo debut with the San Francisco Opera as Blanche in their 2000 production of Louise and since then has returned to make several appearances with the company, including productions of Rigoletto, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Simon Bocca Negra and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. She has also sung with Berkeley Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, North Bay Opera, and San Francisco Lyric Opera. Roles in Ms. Neff’s repertoire include Damon (Acis and Galatea); Sextus (La clemenza di Tito); Hansel (Hansel and Gretel); Dorabella (Così fan tutte); Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro); Tisbe (La Cenerentola); Suzuki (Madama Butterfly).
Ms. Neff is a frequent recitalist and chamber music soloist. She is also a fan of 20th Century music having sung Alban Berg’s Sieben Fruher Lieder and the Alexander Bloch Songs by Shostakovich with the Worn Chamber Ensemble. with Old First Concert Series. She was invited to the prestigious 2006 Gilmore International Keyboard Festival singing the Alto solo in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle and a concert of all Janáček music. She has also been heard at the San Francisco Symphony singing the Alto Solo in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia.
She recently debuted the songs of composer Jude Navarri’s song cycle ‘The Hamlin Songs’ at San Francisco’s Theatre Artaud, and as the featured soloist in the 2008 Mendocino Music Festival and the 2008 Jewish Music Festival singing the risqué music of Kurt Weil, Schoenberg, and Eisler of Weimar Germany. Ms. Neff makes her film debut in the upcoming movie Jackson, in which she plays a homeless opera-singing runaway.
Additionally, Ms. Neff was on staff at UCSF teaching voice and now runs her own private voice studio and group voice classes.
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