Hailed by Opera News for her “velvety mezzo”, Zoie Reams is a graduate of the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Lawrence University, and a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University.
Ms. Reams makes multiple returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2024-2025, opening the season in the role of Maddalena in Rigoletto and later appearing as Mother in Tesori/Thompson’s Blue. Additional engagements include returns to Washington National Cathedral for Handel’s Messiah, and joining The Metropolitan Opera roster to cover Charmian in John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra.
In the previous season, the mezzo-soprano made her debut with Canadian Opera Company, as Neris in Medea, and returned to Minnesota Opera in a double bill as Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti and Autumn in Service Provider by Christopher Weiss. She also appeared as the alto soloist in Messiah at the Washington National Cathedral and returned to the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago to present a self-curated recital, “Singing of Myself.” In the summer of 2024, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Sergei Prokofiev’s The Gambler as Doubtful Old Lady.
Ms. Reams returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago in the 2022-2023 season as Ragonde in Le Comte Ory, conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola, and as the Mezzo Soloist and Chief’s Daughter #2 in Proximity, a trilogy of new American operas curated by Renée Fleming and directed by Yuval Sharon. Other projects included Mandane in Idaspe at the Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, created by Claire van Kampen and the Chatham Baroque Orchestra, the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd at Austin Opera, Messiah at the Washington National Cathedral, and her return to Spoleto Festival for her role debut as Erika in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa.
During the 2021-2022 season, Zoie Reams made her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Lily in James Robinson’s acclaimed production of Porgy and Bess. She was also a Company Member with Minnesota Opera, where she performed the title role of Carmen in a new production directed by Denyce Graves, Dorothée in Joseph Bologne’s The Anonymous Lover, and was a soloist for Ópera Afuera, an outdoor concert at Allianz Field celebrating Latinx vocal music, as well as Voices United, a choral concert featuring operatic favorites. During the summer of 2022, she made her house debut at Cincinnati Opera as Jane in the world premiere of Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s Castor and Patience.
Operatic highlights of previous seasons include her house debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Flora in La traviata; performances at Houston Grand Opera as the title role in Damien Sneed’s Marian Song, Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music, the Third Secretary in John Adams’ Nixon in China, the Alto Winged Angel in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s It’s A Wonderful Life, Cece in the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s Some Light Emerges, Dritte Magde in Elektra, Rosalia in West Side Story, and soloist in their second annual “Giving Voice” recital, co-hosted by tenor Lawrence Brownlee; Maddalena in Rigoletto with Theater Basel, performances with Des Moines Metro Opera as Margret in Wozzeck, Juno in Rameau’s Platée, and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd; and her role debut as Nany in Albert Herring at Minnesota Opera conducted by Dame Jane Glover. In addition, she performed at Opera Columbus as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and sang the title role in Carmen at Opera Louisiane.
On the concert stage, she has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the National Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, Bernstein’s First Symphony, Jeremiah, with the Staatstheater Cottbus Philharmonic Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with both the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the combined choirs of Auburn University and the New Choral Society of Scarsdale, New York.
Ms. Reams’ awards include second place at Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition (2016), first place winner of the Emerging Artist division of the Classical Singer Competition (2015), and second place winner of the Gulf Coast Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2016).
