Bonnie Cutsforth-Huber Mezzo Soprano

With her versatility and a voice that has been described as “rich and dusky, but so beautifully clear and expressive,” Saskatchewan native Bonnie Cutsforth-Huber has established an active career in both concert and operatic mezzo soprano and contralto repertoire. 

 Ms. Cutsforth-Huber has performed with many opera companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Rome Festival Opera, Amalfi Festival Opera, Vera Causa Opera, and Center Stage Opera. She has performed many of the major roles in the mezzo soprano and contralto canon, including the title roles in Carmen, Mignon, Therese, and Samson et Dalila. Other notable roles include La Principessa in Suor Angelica, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and Judith in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. 

 As a concert artist, Ms. Cutsforth-Huber has appeared in prestigious concert spaces across the world, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall , Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and Cemal Resit Rey Hall in Istanbul, Turkey . Concert engagements include performances with the New York City Chamber Orchestra, Altoona Symphony, Nittany Valley Symphony, the Presidential Orchestra of Turkey, the Cemal Resit Rey Orchestra, Susquehanna Valley Chorale, Harford Choral Society, The Bach Concert Series of Baltimore, Saskatoon Symphony, and Regina Symphony. 

Ms. Cutsforth-Huber’s interests also extend to new works. She was the mezzo soloist in the world premiere of Robert Cohen's Alzheimer’s Stories with the Susquehanna Valley Chorale and Orchestra. She also premiered the song cycle Something So Necessary, So Real for contralto, piano and chamber orchestra by Timothy Melbinger. In recital, she premiered a five-song concert set, Saskatchewan Songs, in which poetry written by the singer is set to music by Kingston, Ontario composer Martha Hill Duncan, and also sang the United States premiere of Triptych, a song cycle for mezzo soprano, piano, and alto saxophone by Canadian composer Lloyd Burritt. 

 Ms. Cutsforth-Huber holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the University of Saskatchewan, a Master’s degree in vocal performance from Southern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Kentucky. She currently serves as Professor of Music at Penn State Altoona.