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NEWLY RELEASED |
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Sometimes the Devil Plays FateWith music by composer Paul Frehner, the album’s title track sets to music poetry by acclaimed Toronto-based author Dane Swan and Charles Mingus, the great American jazz bassist and composer. A meditation on the interactions and collisions of peoples, lovers and celestial bodies, the piece explores destiny and questions whether we have the power to be transformative in our own lives.
Available for purchase and streaming on all platforms.
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BIOGRAPHY |
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Mezzo-soprano Mary Beth Nelson was recently praised by Opera News for her “ardent, focused, von-Stadean mezzo” with Juilliard Opera in Handel’s Atalanta with the Juilliard415 historical performance orchestra. Last summer, she joined the Filene Artists roster at Wolf Trap Opera, singing Siébel in Gounod’s Faust, as well as a recital with pianist Steven Blier.
In 2025 Ms. Nelson made her Merkin Concert Hall debut in the Vocal Arts Honors Recital with The Juilliard School. An advocate of new music, she sang and commissioned the world premiere of Daniel Ficarri's Lessons from the Neighborhood, a song cycle scored for mezzo-soprano, organ, and string quintet at her graduate recital. Ms. Nelson is a recipient of the FENDI Vanguard Award. She has won prizes and awards with the Gerda Lissner Foundation (2025), the Fort Worth McCammon Voice Competition (2025), Career Bridges (2022, 2019), the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition (2021), the Rochester International Vocal Competition (2020), the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition (2019), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2020, 2014), and is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School. Ms. Nelson has appeared at Opera Delaware, Opera Baltimore, The Glimmerglass Festival, Florida Grand Opera, Painted Sky Opera, Bronx Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. She holds a degree from Oklahoma City University and is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School. |
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Photo credit: Eva Ravel
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Updated October 2025
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UPCOMING |
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NOTEWORTHY |
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