Zoie Reams, mezzo soprano

Lauded by Opera News for her “velvety mezzo” as well as how she “phrased with elegance and articulated coloratura nimbly,” Zoie Reams returns to Houston Grand Opera for her second season as a Studio Artist in the 2017-18 season. She sings Flora in La traviata, Zweite Magd in Elektra, and Rosalia in West Side Story with the company following her debut last season as the Alto Winged Angel in the world premiere of Heggie’s A Wonderful Life, Third Secretary in Adams’ Nixon in China, and world premiere of Kaminsky’s Some Light Emerges for HGOco.

Also this season, she sings her first performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Previous performances for the mezzo include Clarice in La pietra del paragone with Wolf Trap Opera, Tituba in Ward’s The Crucible with the Glimmerglass Festival, the Sandmännchen in Hänsel und Gretel with Opera Louisiane, and, on the concert stage, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Houston Symphony. She was the second place winner of Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition (2016), first place winner of the Emerging Artist division of the Classical Singer Competition (2015), and second place winner of the Gulf Coast Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2016). She holds a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University, at which she sang Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Katisha in The Mikado, and Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Lawrence University.