ABOUT
COURTNEY
Courtney Elvira is a lyric mezzo-soprano with her hometown roots in St. Petersburg, FL. This summer, She completed her second season with Des Moines Metro Opera, participating in the Apprentice Artist program. She was delighted to cover Prince Orlofsky in the riotous, Die Fledermaus. Earlier this year, Courtney sang the role of Third Spirit and covered Third Lady in The Magic Flute with St. Petersburg Opera.
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This season, Courtney will be performing all over the country, making appearances with Kentucky Opera, Dayton Opera and Philharmonic, Brava! Opera Theater and Opera Ithaca. This September, she will perform Second Lady in Kentucky Opera's production of Die Zauberflöte. Soon after, she'll head to Dayton, Ohio, to sing Lilith in Dayton Ballet's Dracula: Bloodlines, along with appearing as Giovanna in Dayton Opera's Rigoletto. In December, Courtney will be joining the Dayton Philharmonic as the mezzo-soloist in their annual performance of Handel's Messiah. She returns to Dayton Opera next spring, as the mezzo-soprano Artist-in-Residence. There, she'll be singing Kate in The Pirates of Penzance. Soon after, Courtney will be heading to the west coast, where she will be singing her first Hansel, in Hansel and Gretel, for Brava! Opera Theater. Finally, She’ll be joining Opera Ithaca, in April, for a double-bill performance of La liberazione di Ruggiero and a commissioned work by Kamala Sankaram, The Enchantress.
In 2016, Courtney completed Des Moines Metro Opera’s Opera Iowa program, where she sang the title role of Angelina/Cinderella in the outreach production of La Cenerentola. She also covered Javotte in Manon and study covered Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice in her first season with Des Moines Metro Opera. The previous year, Courtney joined Kentucky Opera’s touring production of Le nozze di Figaro, where she flourished as Cherubino. That summer, she made her first appearance with Opera Saratoga, covering Tisbe in La Cenerentola. In the summer of 2014, she traveled to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to sing Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Opera in the Ozarks. Her notable academic roles include Ernesto in Il mondo della luna, Mrs. Peachum in The Beggar’s Opera, Lazuli in L’etoile, and Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring (Carnegie Mellon University).
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Other awards and honors include Honorable Mention at Opera Ithaca’s Edward M. Murray Competition (2017) and an Encouragement Award from the Iowa District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2016). She was also a semi-finalist in the Young Patronesses of the Florida Grand Opera Competition (2015), and the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition (2017).
Courtney graduated in 2015 from Carnegie Mellon University with her master’s degree in Vocal Performance after studying with the acclaimed Maria Spacagna. As per the recommendation of Mrs. Spacagna, Courtney continues her studies with Stella Zambalis. She currently resides in St. Petersburg, Fl, where she works part-time at the University of Tampa, as an adjunct voice professor. Before singing, Courtney studied art and is an avid lover of art history. She cites Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalì and Artemisia Gentileschi as her inspirations.