Soprano Tammy Hensrud has appeared in opera houses throughout Europe and the US including the Vienna State Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Theatre de Chatelet in Paris, Klagenfurt Stadttheater, the Salzburg Summer and Easter Festivals, the Metropolitan Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Liederkranz Opera, and the Spoleto Arts Festival under the batons of James Levine, Herbert Von Karajan, Emmanuelle Villaume, Eve Queler and others. Following a successful career with more than 35 roles in the mezzo soprano repertoire to her credit, Ms. Hensrud has embarked on what is quickly becoming an equally successful career as a performer of challenging and diverse soprano roles. Throughout her career, Ms. Hensrud enjoyed consistent critical acclaim. Switzerland’s Opernwelt found her to possess “…a remarkably beautiful voice capable of many colors and nuances…a singer who is also a natural actress”. Her versatility as a performer has allowed her to cross over into musical theater roles such as the Mother Abbess in the Sound of Music, as well as successfully portray trouser roles from Mozart’s Cherubino and Sesto to Strauss’ Octavian and Composer, and the Rossini heroines of Rosina, Cenerentola and Isabella. Her highly applauded European debut in Klagenfurt as Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi came while still in the Vienna State Opera’s Young Artist Program. She created the role of Mozart in the New York premiere of The Jewel Box, a new opera by Paul Griffiths.
Recent operatic highlights include her acclaimed debut with the Spoleto Arts Festival as Jenny in Kurt Weill’s Der Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Mimi in La Boheme, title roles of Carmen, Tosca, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte and The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Ms. Hensrud has performed recitals throughout Germany, Austria and France and has recorded Gounod’s Mors et Vita with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra. In the United States, Ms. Hensrud was heard at the Rutgers University SummerFest in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and returned to Rutgers University to sing in Mahler’s Third Symphony. Other recent concert engagements include Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Second Symphony, Berlioz’s Les Nuit d’ete, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Songe d’ete Quebec, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the Soprano Soloist in world premiere of Gerald Custer’s Everything Indicates at Carnegie Hall. A sought after interpreter of Kurt Weill, she has performed one woman Kurt Weill/Cabaret shows at The National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland, The Players Club Bechstein Concert Series, the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York and has had return engagements at Cafe Sabarsky’s Cabaret Series at the Neue Galerie in NYC. A most versatile artist, Ms. Hensrud has frequently appeared with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra in world premiere concerts featuring American composers at Merkin Hall and Symphony Space, has toured the United States with the Trio, Solomania, performing recitals with cellist Zvi Plesser and pianist Daniel Blumenthal and has appeared in concert with the award winning Chiara String Quartet in Vocal Chamber recitals. In 2008 Ms. Hensrud co-founded Feminine Musique, a recital duo dedicated to performing the compositions of women composers which has performed throughout the United States, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria, Canada, and The Netherlands.
As a proponent of contemporary music, Ms. Hensrud has sung the World Premiere Performance of Christoph Hohlfeld’s Zwei Legenden for the Sud-Deutsche Rundfunk, Richard Yardumian’s To Mary in Heaven, Richard Ratner’s Spoon River Anthology, Mrs. Evans, in the Blitzstein/Lehrman Opera Sacco and Vanzetti, and with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra has recorded Gerold Chenoweth’s Two Poems by e.e. cummings and a premiere of Seymour Barab’s one woman opera Everything Must Be Perfect. She premiered Adolphus Hailstork’s “I Speak Peace” with the Bismarck Symphony for Soprano soloist and Children’s Choir in honor of President John F. Kennedy. In 2015, Ms. Hensrud created two premiere roles with the Center for Contemporary Opera in NYC: Marie-Hélène in François Dompierre’s “Is Paris Burning?” and Rose Kennedy in Chandler Carter’s opera “Bobby”. With Feminine Musique, Ms. Hensrud premiered two works of Juliana Hall: Roosters and Music Like A Curve of Gold.
Ms. Hensrud began her career as a cellist and holds the Bachelor of Music Degree in Cello Performance, Master of Music and Master of Arts degrees from the University of North Dakota. She received a Fulbright Scholarship and continued post-graduate studies abroad at the Opernschule, Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, Germany where she received an Artist Diploma. Further studies were at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, the Franz Liszt Musik Akadamie in Weimar, Germany and the L’ecole Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland. Ms. Hensrud is often in demand as a Master Class teacher, adjudicator, and clinician. Currently the Coordinator of Vocal Studies, Hensrud has served on the faculty of Hofstra University as Adjunct Professor of Voice since 2005, and served as Visiting Professor of Voice at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN from 2017-2020. She is the Vocal Director of the Oyster Bay Summer Music Program and is on the faculty of Queens Summer Vocal Institute, Music in the Alps and the Artists International Summer Festival.
