About
LA-based soprano Chandler E. Cummings (she/her) will be making her debut with Mission Opera in their production of The Merry Widow in June 2024. She recently made her debut with Landmark Opera Company singing Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. The 2023 season saw her as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance under the direction of Marcus S. Daniel and as the soprano soloist for Delibes’ “Duo des fleurs” from Lakmé in Guild Opera Company’s summer concert.
In February 2020, she originated the principal role of Jill in The Boggs & Maschmeyer Funeral Home, a new musical from Bernie Segal Productions and Valley Opera & Performing Arts.
Chandler won the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra Concerto Competition and performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the acclaimed orchestra in spring 2017.
Playing the title role in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience with the MIT Gilbert & Sullivan Players in 2016 inspired a love for operetta that has not faded. In 2016, Chandler also studied with the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria as a member of their Lieder Studio. In 2015, she sang in the Trentino Music Festival in Fiera di Primiero, Italy where she played Erste Knabe in Die Zauberflöte and Seconda Cercatrice in Suor Angelica.
During her four years at Wellesley College, Chandler studied with renowned contralto Marion Dry. She was a featured soloist with the College Choir, Chamber Singers, Collegium Musicum, and Chamber Music Society.
Chandler had the pleasure to perform with various local theater companies growing up and to sing with the Northern Michigan Chorale and Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra Chorus in her high school years, culminating in singing the soprano solo in Fauré’s Requiem in 2013.
Chandler grew up in northern Michigan and graduated from Wellesley College in 2017 with a BA in music & psychology. She currently studies voice with esteemed soprano Jessica Tivens Schneiderman.
Chandler is known for her progressive thinking and boundary-pushing in both her personal and professional lives. A fierce champion of women and queer folks in opera, she is currently working on an exciting new project that highlights their unique stories and talents. The project will feature new and standard repertoire operas in contemporary settings, with an avant-garde edge. More to come.
Outside of singing, Chandler is interested in all things art, nature, and sustainability. She is also an advanced open water diver and passionate animal rights advocate.
