American soprano Rachele Gilmore is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and received her Bachelor’s of Music from Indiana University, continuing with Graduate studies at Boston University. She was a member the Young Artist Programs of Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Center, and was a winner in Placido Domingo’s Operalia, The World Opera Competition in Paris. She is a regular performer in America, Europe, and Asia and has appeared in many of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie, Grand Théâtre de Geneve, and Festival d’Aix en Provence.
An admired concert performer, Ms. Gilmore joined the University Musical Society last season as the soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah, and Opera Roanoke for concerts of Strauss opera highlights. During the 2022-2023 season she joined the San Francisco Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony for Mendelssohn’s Elijah, performed Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and bowed with the Montgomery Symphony.
Ms. Gilmore’s orchestral appearances include recent engagements with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck (Marzelline in the 1806 version of Beethoven's Fidelio, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Creation with Gustavo Dudamel, Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland with Susanna Malkki), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Alice in Wonderland with Malkki, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict with Ludovic Morlot). She has performed Handel’s Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony, returned to Alice in Wonderland with the Seoul Phiharmonic, bowed with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Toledo Symphony with repertoire by Mozart, Duparc, and Mahler, and appeared in a concert performance of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges as the Fire, Princess and Nightingale with the Seattle Symphony.
Recent operatic engagements include Marie in La fille du Régiment with Austin Opera, her role debut as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Opera San Antonio, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Gretel with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Gilda with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, and Nannetta in Falstaff with Opera Omaha. She has sung her most acclaimed role of Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann with many companies, including the Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and in a celebrated last-minute debut with the Metropolitan Opera.
Notably, she has performed the role of Ophélie in Hamlet with La Monnaie in Brussels under the baton of Marc Minkowski. She has also sung Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de L'Harmonie with Festival d’Aix en Provence and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, as well as with the Grand Théatre de Geneve. She has been seen as the Fire and the Nightingale in L’enfant et les sortileges with the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Osaka Philharmonic in Japan.
Further memorable appearances include the roles of Ninetta in La Gazza Ladra and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Glimmerglass Festival, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with NCPA in Beijing, Amina in La Sonnambula with the Florida Grand Opera, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Philadelphia, Elvira in I Puritani with Knoxville Opera, Cunegonde in Candide with Portland Opera, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra de Vichy. She has also sung the roles of Sophie in Werther and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Boston Lyric Opera, and has performed Verdi’s heroine Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Colorado, Michigan Opera Theater, and Opera Omaha. She has been seen as the title role of Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opéra de Lille, Virginia Opera, and Knoxville Opera.