Shannon Coulter recently appeared with the Santa Barbara Grand Opera as Adele in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, a role which also began her association with Opera Delaware. Other operetta roles include Kathie and the Princess Margaret in The Student Prince, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance and Giannetta in The Gondoliers. On the opera stage, she has performed Nannetta in Falstaff with Central City Opera, Despina in Cosi fan tutte with Santa Barbara Grand Opera, Papagena in The Magic Flute with Opera Delaware, and the Second Spirit in the premiere of Peter Westergaard's The Tempest with the Opera Festival of New Jersay. In the spring of 1996, Ms. Coulter performed a workshop version of Tina Davidson's Billy and Zelda, a new opera wiich received its acclaimed premiere this winter at Opera Delaware.
From 1993 to 1996, she planned and presented recitals with the ensemble ChamberWorks, performing vocal chamber music by Philadelphia-based composers, as well as solo baroque cantatas by Handel and Teleman, and standard art song repertoire. This work included premieres of works by Andrea Clearfield and Tina Davidson. In 1996, she sang the world premiere of Ms. Davidson's Over Salt River for soprano and orchestra with the Newark Symphony. Ms. Coulter has also performed with Piffaro--The Renaissance Band, the early music ensemble the Schuylkill Consort, and is a member of the octet of soloists at St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia. Recently, she participated in the Spoleto Festival Choir at the Spoleto Festival in Italy.
Ms. Coulter's commitment to art song and chamber music has led to participation in seminars at the Franz-Schubert-Institut' in Baden bei Wien, Austria, and at the Yale Summer School of Music in Norfolk, Connecticut. She is a 1990 and 1991 alumnae of the Music Academy of the West. Also a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant, Ms. Coulter holds degrees from Westminster Choir College, and the State University of New York at Albany, and a Certificate of Professional Studies from Temple University. She is currently on the music faculties of The Philadelphia School and the Haddonfield School of Performing Arts. This fall she looks forward to singing Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Newark Symphony, and to performing a series of recitals in the Delaware Valley.
