Maire ThereseCarmack
- Mezzo-Soprano


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.
Representation
Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt
Season Highlights
Video
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, USAApr 2025 - May 2025Her 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.
- Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Parterre box
- 29 April 2025
As Bess’ friend Dodo, mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack was a fount of rich, plush tones that exuded Dodo’ affection
- Steven Brown, Texas Classical Review
- 20 April 2025
Mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack was lovely as the steadfast and empathetic Dodo, especially in her “golden heart” aria from the wedding reception.
- Sherry Cheng, EarRelevant
- 22 April 2025
Verdi Don Carlos (Princess Eboli)
Sanders Theatre, USAJan 2025The 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.
- Lloyd Schwartz, Musical America
- 30 January 2025