Well known for her work as a cross-over artist, American soprano Virginia Croskery opened 2005 with a performance of Victor Herbert songs in Aix-le-Bain, France with the Orchestre de Kiosk under the direction of Nicolas Amet. Other highlights of the season include the role of Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff in Novafeltria, Italy and a solo recital at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. A fine interpreter of twentieth-century music, she recently impressed audiences and critics with her performances of Marie in scenes from Wozzeck with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. "Absolutment saisissante" writes Claude Gingras of Le Presse. Miss Croskery also received rave reviews for her performances of The Seven Deadly Sins with Hermann Michael and the Phoenix Symphony. Arizona Republic critic Kenneth La Fave wrote, "Croskery was superb in her taxing part, characterizing without overstating and producing a seamless sound that just barely avoided being overbeautiful". Her interpretation of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the Grammy Award winning Chicago Pro Musica was dubbed "…a tour de force that bordered on the spellbinding" by Ted Shen of the Chicago Tribune. Her long list of contemporary repertoire includes "Le rôle unique" in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and the role of Concepcion in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol. Operetta lovers will enjoy her debut solo recording, Beloved Songs and Miniatures of Victor Herbert recorded for Marco Polo/Naxos records in 2000.
Miss Croskery has appeared with numerous orchestras across the continent, including those of Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Houston and Utah as well as the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. International performances include concerts with the Haifa Symphony and a twelve city tour of Japan with conductor Keith Brion and the New Sousa Band. Carnegie Hall audiences have heard her in the Fauré Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony and in songs of DuParc with the Chicago Youth Symphony under the baton of Michael Morgan.
Equally at home on the opera stage, Miss Croskery has received critical acclaim in such works as Cosí fan Tutte (Dorabella): "Her stage aura has charisma and beauty, her voice is a bright polished soprano capable of crystalline attacks and shapely legato phrasing…." (Carla Maria Verdino Sullwold, Opera Monthly) and Face on the Barroom Floor (roles of Isabel/Madelaine): "Virginia Croskery is exciting, vibrant and alive with a voice that can best be described as thrilling." (Jerry Klein, Peoria Journal Star). A winner in the Third Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, she was honored to sing alongside Mr. Pavarotti in the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s 1989 production of L’Elisir d’Amore. The following year she joined the National Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, making her debut as Carlotta in Chicago and subsequently joining the Broadway company as a Swing.
Miss Croskery is a frequent recitalist and has appeared as guest artist at Northern Illinois University, the Chicago Public Library and over the radio from Chicago’s WFMT studios with the Orion Chamber Ensemble. She has been a featured soloist on National Broadcasts of the St. Louis Symphony, the Utah Symphony and the Grant Park Symphony. Miss Croskery is an alumna of the prestigious Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Center for American Artists. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees of Music from Northwestern University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Iowa. Fluent in French, German and Italian, she has studied with Virginia Zeani and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni at Indiana University and Carlo Bergonzi in Busseto, Italy. Miss Croskery is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, where she teaches vocal pedagogy, diction, world music and studio voice.
June 2005