91ÉçÇø

Biography

Praised for her distinctive contralto voice, Brenda Iglesias has appeared as a soloist and guest artist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Orquesta Sinfónica de la UAEH, and Capella Barroca de México. She has performed in Mexico, the Czech Republic and the United States at venues such as the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Teatro Degollado, Cincinnati Music Hall, and Prague’s Estates Theater and Liechtenstein Palace, collaborating with conductors such as Louis Langrée, James Burton, José Luis Castillo and Eduardo García Barrios.

With a wide-ranging repertoire from Baroque to contemporary, Iglesias has portrayed key contralto and mezzo-soprano roles, including Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito and the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Concert highlights include Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, de Falla's El Amor Brujo and Bach’s St. John Passion. Committed to expanding today’s repertoire, she premiered and recorded Davenport’s Blind Injustice and workshopped Picker’s Awakenings, both with Opera Fusion: New Works.

A prizewinner of the renowned Carlo Morelli Competition at the Opera of Bellas Artes in Mexico and the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition, Iglesias was most recently a semifinalist at the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition in New York City. She has also received competitive grants from Mexico’s National Endowment for the Arts (FONCA and SNFM) and Pro-Ópera A.C., along with full merit scholarships for her M.M. and D.M.A. studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She earned her B.M. with honors from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo.

Iglesias’s career has been shaped by the mentorship of esteemed musicians and educators, including Thomas Baresel, Cynthia Lawrence, Kathleen Kelly, Kenneth Griffiths, Carlos Aransay, Janice Chapman, Kenneth Bozeman and Horacio Franco.

A leading expert on Latin American art song and a dedicated educator, Iglesias has presented her research on early Mexican art song at international forums such as the Society for American Music Conference and the International Congress of Voice Teachers, and continues to refine her teaching through advanced training, including the New England Conservatory and Embodied Music Lab’s Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop, Classical Voice Training’s Singing and Teaching Singing Advanced Courses, and conferences of the Association for Body Mapping Education and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She previously served on the faculty of Western Illinois University and has been an assistant professor of voice at 91ÉçÇø (SUNY) since 2022.

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Education

• Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Voice Performance and Pedagogy, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
• Master of Music (MM) in Vocal Performance, University of Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
• Bachelor of Music (BMus) in Music Education and Voice, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo

Honors and Awards

• XXXII Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition – Osbelia Hernández Award, Opera of Bellas Artes, Mexico
• Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition – Deirdre and Pearce Lyons Award, Kentucky
• Mexico’s National Endowment for the Arts (FONCA) – Grant for Studies Abroad

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