Maire ThereseCarmack

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  • Mezzo-Soprano
©Ling Wang
©Ling Wang

About Maire Therese

American mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack, Third Prize winner at the Operalia World Opera Competition, has been praised by Opera News for her "deep mezzo and vibrant metallic timbre" and for "taking focus by her very presence." A recent graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, Maire Therese’s 25/26 season features role debuts with houses including Semperoper Dresden (La Baronessa di Champigny in Il cappello di paglia di Firenze) and Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Waltraute in Die Walküre).

Recent highlights include Maire Therese Carmack’s critically acclaimed debut with Houston Grand Opera as Dodo McNeill in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves. She has also made notable debuts with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera.

A committed interpreter of contemporary opera, Maire Therese has premiered multiple new works, including the role of Prima Donna in Philip Blackburn’s multimedia hyper-opera The Sun Palace, later adapted into a 60-minute indie film that premiered at New York’s Anthology Film Archives. She also appeared as a soloist in the world premiere of M. Butterfly 蝴蝶君 by David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo with Santa Fe Opera, and created the role of Mezzosopran in Arne Gieshoff and Franziska Angerer’s Bär*in at Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Tischlerei. At Deutsche Oper, she also performed Der Missmut in Rued Langgaard’s rarely staged Antikrist, released digitally in collaboration with NAXOS.

Her broader operatic repertoire at Deutsche Oper Berlin and beyond includes Carmen/Mercédès (Carmen), Princess Eboli (Don Carlo), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Fenena (Nabucco), Dulcinée (Don Quichotte), Maddalena (Rigoletto), The Page (Salome), Second Lady/Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Juno (Semele), Witch/Mother (Hänsel und Gretel), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Ottavia (L’incoronazione di Poppea), and Baroness Nica (Charlie Parker’s Yardbird).

Maire Therese is the winner of the Björn Eklund Scholarship from The Opera Foundation, first prize winner of the Gerda Lissner Lieder and Song Competition, winner of Opera Index's Felix Popper Award, two-time grant recipient from The Olga Forrai Foundation for Dramatic Voices, and second prize winner of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. Maire Therese holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature (with honors) from the Eastman School of Music, as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Philosophy and Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

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Contact

Ivo Ivanov

Ivo Ivanov

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Jan 2026
Monte-Carlo Opera, Monte-Carlo
Wagner: Die Walküre (Waltraute) Gianluca Capuano (conductor)
May 2026 - Jun 2026
Semperoper Dresden, Dresden
Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (La Baronessa di Champigny) Daniele Squeo (conductor)

Selected Repertoire

Berlioz

Les Troyens (Didon)   •   La Damnation de Faust (Marguerite)

Bizet

Carmen (title role / Mercedes)

Borodin

Prince Igor (Konchakovna)

Britten

The Rape of Lucretia (title role)

Gluck

Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo)

Handel

Semele (Juno)

Massenet

Don Quichotte (Dulcinée)   •   Werther (Charlotte)

Purcell

Dido and Aeneas (Dido)

Rimsky-Korsakov

The Tsar's Bride (Lyubasha)

Tchaikovsky

Eugene Onegin (Olga)   •   The Queen of Spades (Polina)

Verdi

Don Carlos (Princess Eboli)   •   Rigoletto (Maddalena)   •   Falstaff (Meg Page)   •   La Forza del Destino (Preziosilla)   •   Nabucco (Fenena)

Wagner

Tannhäuser (Venus)   •   Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne)

News

Press

  • Mazzoli Breaking the Waves (Dodo McNeill)

    Houston Grand Opera, USA
    Apr 2025 - May 2025
    • Her voice has a pleasingly rich texture and the easy legato of rolling hills – an ease that somehow persisted even as she spat venom in her fiery last scene.

    • As Bess’ friend Dodo, mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack was a fount of rich, plush tones that exuded Dodo’ affection

    • Mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack was lovely as the steadfast and empathetic Dodo, especially in her “golden heart” aria from the wedding reception.

  • Verdi Don Carlos (Princess Eboli)

    Sanders Theatre, USA
    Jan 2025
    • The audience favorite was clearly mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack in the impossible role of Princess Eboli... Impossible because the role's two big arias are so completely different that one singer can rarely pull them both off successfully. But Carmack sang the Veil Song, the deceptively light coloratura ballad, and the searing, self-castigating aria "O don fatale" (Oh, fatal gift!) with equal control, power and affect.