Soprano Joélle Harvey has established herself as a noted interpreter of a broad range of repertoire, anchored by Handel, Mozart and new music.
Harvey’s engagements during the 2021-2022 season include debuts at Opernhaus Zürich (Aristea in Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, conducted by Jakub Hrůša), and the University Musical Society at University of Michigan (Handel’s Messiah). She joins Les Violons du Roy for further Messiah performances, returns to the North Carolina Symphony (Mahler’s Symphony No. 4), the Indianapolis Symphony (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), and continues her close collaboration with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society in two appearances: Vivaldi’s Gloria and C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat, conducted by Jonathan Cohen, and Haydn’s The Creation, led by Harry Christophers in his final performances as H&H artistic director.
During the 2020-2021 season, Harvey filmed a performance of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Cleveland Orchestra as part of its reconfigured season, made her Cincinnati Symphony May Festival debut in Britten’s Les Illuminations and joined the Handel & Haydn Society for a filmed production of its annual Messiah concert. Additionally, she collaborated with Los Angeles Opera on Anna Clyne’s The Gorgeous Nothings, a setting of Emily Dickinson texts for its On Now initiative, and later in the summer, joined the Elgin Symphony for Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Bard Summerscape for performances of songs by Nadia Boulanger, as well as excerpts of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes.
Harvey received second prize in Houston Grand Opera’s 2008 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. She was the recipient of a 2011 first prize from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, a 2009 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and a 2010 Encouragement Award (in honor of Norma Newton) from the George London Foundation. She is a recipient of the Shoshana Foundation’s 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant and also was presented with the John Alexander Memorial Award and the coveted Sam Adams Award for Achievement in Acting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
A native of Bolivar, New York, Harvey received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she performed the roles of Amor in Cavalli’s L’Egisto, Emmie and Flora in (respectively) Britten’s Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw, Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Sophie in Massenet’s Werther and Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff.
June 2021
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSOA by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
