Athena Delene photo
From art song to opera to cabaret, soprano Gretchen Farrar moves easily through styles, genres, and languages. The Münchner Merkur described her performance of American songs with Elysium-Between Two Continents in Germany as “…technically more than brilliant... an overall elegant tightrope-walk between charming entertainment and profound quality...” The New York Times noted her “passionate and shapely performance” of Ernesto Cordero’s songs with guitarist Francisco Roldán at the Mannes Guitar Festival. The duo has performed as part of Lincoln Center Local and has been invited to perform at recital series across the northeast from Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Maryland to Helen Day Arts Center in Vermont.
Gretchen's recording with guitarist Francisco Roldán, Interweaving, is a dynamic collection of songs in Spanish and English presented in a variety of styles encapsulating the Renaissance to the contemporary.
Gretchen has also performed with piano at recital series and venues in and around New York including Weill Hall and Merkin Hall offering a variety of repertoire. Frequent collaborators have included LeAnn Overton and Alexander A. Wu. With Elysium-Between Two Continents, she has sung German and American works with Dan Franklin Smith, piano, and assisted directing Elysium's performances in Germany and New York. Her opera and chamber music credits include Anchorage Opera, Eugene Opera, Belleayre Festival Opera, Opera at Florham, Dicapo Opera, Hudson Opera Theater, National Lyric Opera, ChamberMusicNY and New Music New York.
A passionate advocate for arts education, Gretchen has been a teaching artist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon where she received her Master’s in Music and where she has been known to sing the National Anthem at Athletics events. She is a graduate of Bates College.
Gretchen has collaborated with composer Anice Thigpen on a number of new pieces. Gretchen performed Anice’s What Death Can Touch with soprano Laura Wayte and Delgani Quartet. Now is The Winter, a work inspired by Sumerian myth and created during the pandemic, was recently released on video. Birds Flying Through, a dramatic chamber piece featuring works by composers Anice Thigpen, Colin Pop Dixon, Kathryn Brunhaver, Paul Safar, and David Sprung, set to the poetry of Deborah Narin-Wells, was presented in October, 2022 by A-Squared Productions. If you missed it, click here for the video.
Most recently, Gretchen recorded How Do I Love Thee by composer David Sprung with Grace Ho, piano.
Gretchen's recording with guitarist Francisco Roldán, Interweaving, is a dynamic collection of songs in Spanish and English presented in a variety of styles encapsulating the Renaissance to the contemporary.
Gretchen has also performed with piano at recital series and venues in and around New York including Weill Hall and Merkin Hall offering a variety of repertoire. Frequent collaborators have included LeAnn Overton and Alexander A. Wu. With Elysium-Between Two Continents, she has sung German and American works with Dan Franklin Smith, piano, and assisted directing Elysium's performances in Germany and New York. Her opera and chamber music credits include Anchorage Opera, Eugene Opera, Belleayre Festival Opera, Opera at Florham, Dicapo Opera, Hudson Opera Theater, National Lyric Opera, ChamberMusicNY and New Music New York.
A passionate advocate for arts education, Gretchen has been a teaching artist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon where she received her Master’s in Music and where she has been known to sing the National Anthem at Athletics events. She is a graduate of Bates College.
Gretchen has collaborated with composer Anice Thigpen on a number of new pieces. Gretchen performed Anice’s What Death Can Touch with soprano Laura Wayte and Delgani Quartet. Now is The Winter, a work inspired by Sumerian myth and created during the pandemic, was recently released on video. Birds Flying Through, a dramatic chamber piece featuring works by composers Anice Thigpen, Colin Pop Dixon, Kathryn Brunhaver, Paul Safar, and David Sprung, set to the poetry of Deborah Narin-Wells, was presented in October, 2022 by A-Squared Productions. If you missed it, click here for the video.
Most recently, Gretchen recorded How Do I Love Thee by composer David Sprung with Grace Ho, piano.
Performing A2 Productions' Birds Flying Through. Kelli Matthews photo.
Rehearsing Anice Thigpen's Now is the Winter. Jonathan Bagby photos
