Jane Froman, att. CCM late ‘20s, (1907–80), was a popular radio singing star, a Ziegfield Follies performer, an opera singer, a nightclub headliner and a TV guest star who was plagued by a stutter that would handicap her screen roles and suffered from chronic injuries from a near-fatal plane crash. Fortunately, her stutter did not affect her singing. A ’52 movie was made of her life, starring Susan Hayward, and Froman provided the vocal tracks for the soundtrack.

Links
Read UC Magazine story about her life and career.
Watch a video of her singing her No. 1 hit “I Believe.”
See her TV credits.
See her Broadway credits.
See her movie credits.
See a video of her on “What’s My Line?”

Kathleen Battle, CCM '70, MM '71, HonDoc '83, soprano, named "the best lyric coloratura soprano in the world" by Time Magazine. Performed at Metropolitan Opera, Spoleto Festival, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and opera houses of Vienna, Paris, San Francisco and Chicago. Numerous recordings and five-time Grammy Award winner. Her appearance on the PBS broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's 1991 season opening gala won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Classical Program on Television in the USA. (Watch video of her singing. See her TV credit.)

David Malis, MM '83, baritone, was the first American to win the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World  Competition and a leading baritone at the Metropolitan Opera for twelve seasons, Performed at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Teatro Colòn, the San Francisco Opera, Welsh National Opera, Carnegie Hall,the Thêàtre des Champs-Elysées, Los Angeles and Stockholm. Numerous recordings. (Watch video of him singing.)

David Daniels, CCM '90, countertenor, performed at Carnegie Hall, Frankfurt, Finland, Paris, Belgrade, Berlin, London, Munich, San Francisco, Metropolitan Opera. Gramophone magazine named him one of the Top Ten Trailblazers in classical music. The New York Times said, “To say that he is the most acclaimed countertenor of the day, perhaps the best ever, is to understate his achievement. He is simply a great singer.” Numerous recordings. In a production opening on New Year's Eve '11, he stars as Prospero in the Met's new Baroque pastiche opera, The Enchanted Island, based on The Tempest.  An HD broadcast in January is planned. (Watch him sing Bach.)

Stanford Olsen, MM '94, tenor, winner of the Naumburg award and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Performed at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Australian Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Salzburg and Montreal. This Grammy nominee has numerous recordings. (Watch one of his performances.)

Deborah Poe Polaski, CCM ’75, HonDoc '10, soprano, has become renowned for performing the title role in “Elektra” more than 184 times throughout the world. She has performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and the Sydney Festival. She has also appeared in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bonn, Chicago, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dresden, Duisburg, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Genoa, Hamburg, London, Lucerne, Mannheim, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, Yokohama and Zurich. She has made numerous recordings and DVDs. (Read about her honorary doctorate.) (Watch a video of her performing.)

Barbara Daniels, MM '71, HonDoc ’93, soprano, performed at Innsbruck, Cologne, Hamburg, Covent Garden, San Francisco and Metropolitan operas. She resides in Innsbruck, Austria, and has made numerous recordings. (Watch video of her singing. See her operatic TV credits.)

Michael Maniaci, CCM '99, male soprano, was called “one of the greatest singers of his generation” by the Toronto Globe and Mail. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Vancouver Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik Toronto, Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Opéra Atelier in Toronto, Santa Fe Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Juilliard Opera Center, Wolf Trap Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera North in Leeds, England, and New Holland Baroque Society in Concertgebowe, Amsterdam. (Watch video of an interview and a clip him singing.)

Richard Zeller, MM '88, baritone, spent 12 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. Gave a command performance for Prince Rainier and Prince Albert of Monaco at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and for the Spanish royal family in Madrid. Also performed at Edinburgh Festival, Vienna Festival, London, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Leipzig, Prague, Tokyo, Czech Republic, Korea, Norway, Chicago, San Diego and Minnesota. Numerous recordings.

Cortez Mitchell, MM (CCM) '06, is a countertenor who originally sang opera, but joined the internationally acclaimed men's a cappella group Chanticleer in 2008. The multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble comprises 12 singers from across the country and gives approximately 100 concerts annually. Previously, Mitchell was Minnesota Opera's first resident artist countertenor and had been a featured solo performer with several symphony orchestras. He has also received awards from the National Opera Association, The Washington International competition and the Houston Grand Opera Elleanor McCollum competition.

Links:
Cortez Mitchell's biography on the Chanticleer website.
Watch Chanticleer perform on this video. (He's front row, far left.)
Watch Chanticleer's hilarious tribute to Jay Leno's spoof of the group.

Sylvia Cooper, Ed ’62, CCM ’63, MM ’76, won Metropolitan Opera regional auditions in 1967 and sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati and the MeadowBrook Festival. She was also a soloist with Duke Ellington in 15 performances, a soloist in a Concert for Peace at Constitution Hall, the only opera singer ever to perform at the Fillmore East and Mary Magdalene in the 1971 U.S. premiere tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Numerous recordings, including the title track of renowned jazz artist Yusef Lateef’s “So Peace,” which he wrote especially for her. (See the Life magazine article about her in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”)

Anna Christy, MM '00, soprano, has performed with the San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Washington Concert Opera, L’Opera National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and the Ravinia Festival.

Mark Oswald, CCM '89, baritone, spent 13 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. Performed at Vienna, Hamburg,  Venice,  Spain (Tenerife),  France (L’ Orange Festival). Numerous recordings. (Hear him sing.)

Andrew Garland, MM '02, Ad (CCM) '04, baritone, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Opera New Jersey, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Company of North America and Seattle Opera. Saluted by The New York Times for having a "distinctively American presence," he  has won the Washington International Music Competition, American Traditions Competition, William Byrd Competition, Opera Columbus Competition and NATS New England competition, as well as taking third prize in the Montreal International Music Competition. (See videos of Andres Garland performing.)

Scott Coulter, CCM '93, is an award-winning cabaret singer in New York City who teaches classes on musical storytelling. He is co-founder/owner of Spot-On Entertainment and has performed in musical theater productions around the country and on tour. In '11, he performed in Lady Gaga’s duet with Tony Bennett for her Thanksgiving TV special on ABC. Watch him perform at the CCM '11 showcase.

Opera directors

Jose Maria Condemi, MFA (CCM) '01, won the 2000 USA National Opera Association competition, then went on to direct operas in San Francisco, San Jose, Canada, Lucca, Tokyo, Seattle, Chicago, Cincinnati, Portland, Minnesota, Austin, Houston and Grand Rapids. He also has theater directing credits. In 2011, he was is the artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara and executive director of West Coast Opera Workshop, a training program for young singers in the Bay Area.

Chía Patino, CCM '03, is a stage director and composer with an emerging international reputation. She has assisted in many of the leading opera houses around the world, including the Washington National Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera and Palm Beach Opera, the Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile and Opera Theatre of Lucca in Italy. She has also composed two operas, the latests one a commission from the Teatro Nacional Sucre. Watch her video portfolio.