Colleen Brooks, mezzo soprano, completed her DMA in vocal performance at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati, OH. Dr. Brooks holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University as well as bachelor's degrees in both vocal performance and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has had the privilege of coaching with current American composers such as Thomas Pasatieri, Jake Heggie, and William Bolcom and performed with Mr. Heggie at the Grandin Music Festival in Cincinnati in 2006. She was an apprentice artist with Florentine Opera (Milwaukee, WI) for their 2008-09 season where she performed the roles of Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and 3rd Lady (The Magic Flute). Dr. Brooks was the Wisconsin district winner in the Metropolitan Opera Competition in 2009, and she was a participant in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program the summer of 2010. She recently premiered the role of Dora Marx in The Snow Dragon (world premiere and Thailand premiere) as well as Wagner’s Mezzos in The Skylight Ring this May. She is very much looking forward to a collaborative production of Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Wild Space Dance Company, and The Skylight’s Viswa Subbaraman. Additional roles performed include Azucena, Rosina, Hansel, Garcias in Tulsa Opera’s Don Quichotte, Nora in Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea, Donna Elvira, Catherine in A View from the Bridge, Piramo in Piramo e Tisbe, and Mrs. Webb in a workshop performance of Rorem’s Our Town. Dr. Brooks has been a member of the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 2013.
