Biography
American soprano Marie Plette is acclaimed in the major opera houses of North America and Europe for her compelling portrayals from Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly to Love Simpson in Cold Sassy Tree and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. Her performances of Madama Butterfly prompted the New York Times to remark, "The opera did partake of the other great unifying factor here: a star turn, by Marie Plette in the title role."
A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Plette has performed both at the San Francisco Opera House, most recently as Madama Butterfly, but also for the many regional companies in the area. Recent highlights have been the title roles of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and Barber's Vanessa for West Edge Opera in Berkeley. Jake Heggie's one woman opera: Another Sunrise for Festival Opera in Walnut Creek. Tosca, Mimi and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Livermore Valley Opera.
Other recent highlights include singing as soloist in Carlson’s Promise of Time with Santa Rosa Symphony; in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Las Vegas Symphony; the title role in Tosca with Anchorage Opera, her return to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; to Seattle Opera to reprise Freia, Ortlinde and Gutrune in Wagner’s Ring Cycle; to the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Don Giovanni; singing as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Michigan Opera Theatre; as soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Arkansas Symphony Orchestra; and in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Florida Orchestra.
Other performances include the title role in Iphigenia in Tauris for her return to Seattle Opera; Larina in Eugene Onegin with Lyric Opera of Chicago; the title role in Tosca with Sacramento Opera; performances of Cio-Cio San with Arkansas Symphony Orchestra; Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Arizona Opera; Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with the Phoenix Symphony; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Antonia in Les Contes d' Hoffmann, both with Seattle Opera; and reprises of Freia in Das Rheingold and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, as well as Ortlinde in Die Walküre, in Seattle Opera's Ring Cycle.
Immediately after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1992, Marie Plette was invited to make her Metropolitan Opera debut as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte. She has performed frequently with the company since then in roles including Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, and Kristina in The Makropoulos Case.
Other operatic highlights include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera and Boston Lyric Opera; her first performances of Nedda in I Pagliacci with Glimmerglass Opera; the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with New York City Opera and Opera Pacific; Vitellia in a new production of La clemenza di Tito with New York City Opera; the title role of Rusalka with Seattle Opera; Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Pacific, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Memphis and Connecticut Opera; her return to Seattle Opera as Micaëla in Carmen and Elsa in Lohengrin; Desdemona in Otello and the title role ofKát'a Kabanová with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Love Simpson in Cold Sassy Tree with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha and Opera Carolina; Elisabetta in Don Carlo with Arizona Opera; and Anna Maurrant in Street Scene with Minnesota Opera. Ms. Plette sang the role of Ghita in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg at the Spoleto USA Festival, and was invited by Gian Carlo Menotti to reprise the role at the Rome Opera.
International highlights include her Edinburgh Festival debut as Sieglinde in Scottish Opera's production of Die Walküre; a concert appearance with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris; and Elettra in Idomeneo and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Staatstheater Stuttgart. With the Wexford Festival she has sung the role of Isabella in Wagner's Das Liebesverbot.
Ms. Plette's orchestral credits include Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the New Japan Philharmonic, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Memphis Symphony, Liu in Turandot with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and an evening of Viennese music with the San Francisco Symphony. Her several appearances at Carnegie Hall include singing Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony, Mahler's Symphony No. 8, Fauré's Requiem, and Bruckner's Te Deum with the New York Choral Society; and Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Collegiate Chorale. She has also been heard in recital at the Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York and in concert with Arizona Opera, New Jersey Symphony and Opera Omaha.
Marie Plette is a recipient of awards from the George London Competition, two grants from the Richard Tucker Foundation, a Sullivan grant, the William Matthews Sullivan Foundation, and the San Francisco Opera's Il Cenacolo Award.