Meghan Picerno
{{short description|American theater actress and opera singer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Meghan Picerno
| alma_mater = Manhattan School of Music
| occupation = {{hlist|Singer|actress}}
| website = https://www.meghanpicerno.com/
}}
Meghan Picerno is an American theatre actress and coloratura soprano opera and musical theater singer.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.meghanpicerno.com/about |access-date=2019-09-17 |website=meghanpicerno |language=en}}{{cite web | url=https://operawire.com/q-a-meghan-picerno-on-taking-her-career-in-stride-to-somewhere-extraordinary/ | title=Q & A: Meghan Picerno on Taking Her Career in Stride to Somewhere Extraordinary | date=7 January 2024 }} She is best known for her five-year history of playing the role of Christine Daaé in several productions, including the U.S. Premiere and 1st National Tour of Love Never Dies, and the world tour and Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera.{{Cite web |title=Broadway's Phantom of the Opera to Welcome Meghan Picerno, John Riddle & Bradley Dean to the Cast |url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/196720/broadways-phantom-of-the-opera-to-welcome-meghan-picerno-john-riddle-bradley-dean-to-the-cast/ |access-date=2019-09-17 |website=Broadway.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Love Never Dies Alum Meghan Picerno to Revisit Christine Daaé on International Tour of Phantom |url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/194047/love-never-dies-alum-meghan-picerno-to-revisit-christine-daae-on-international-tour-of-phantom/ |access-date=2019-09-17 |website=Broadway.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=11 September 2019 |title=John Riddle and Bradley Dean Join Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera September 11 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/john-riddle-and-bradley-dean-join-broadways-the-phantom-of-the-opera-september-11 |website=Playbill |access-date=2019-09-17}}
Education
Picerno studied music at Illinois Wesleyan University.{{Cite web|title=How Meghan Picerno Went from Opera to The Phantom of the Opera|url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/197884/how-meghan-picerno-went-from-opera-to-the-phantom-of-the-opera/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=Broadway.com|language=en}} She later graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a M.M. in voice.
Career
Picerno began her career in the opera world. In 2012, she took part in the "I Sing Beijing" program, performing at the National Center for the Performing Arts in the PRC,{{cite web|url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/art/2013-02/01/content_16193472.htm|title=West gets lesson in Chinese opera|author=Caroline Berg|date=2013-02-01|work=The China Daily|access-date=January 5, 2024}} and appeared on a popular China Central Television program, performing George Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarily So, alongside American Tenor Jamez McCorkle and Dutch-Canadian Tenor Lucas van Lierop.{{cite web |last=Hunter |first=Briana |title="It Ain't Necessarily So" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEi1A-jdHic&t=93s |website=YouTube |date=January 4, 2013 |access-date=January 5, 2024}} In 2015, she was a quarterfinalist in Plácido Domingo's Operalia International Vocal Competition.{{Cite web|last=Redazione|date=2015-07-16|title=Plácido Domingo's OPERALIA 2015.|url=https://www.panoramical.eu/eventos/placido-domingos-operalia-2015-watch-this-sunday/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=Revista Panorámica|language=es}} She has also performed La fée from Massenet's Cendrillon in Montreal, and the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Picerno garnered the top prize at the Arkadi International Vocal Competition, at New York Lyric Opera.https://www.sfsymphony.org/Data/Event-Data/Artists/P/Meghan-Picerno
Picerno's first crossover into musical theatre was New York City Opera's 2017 production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which was directed by Hal Prince. She played Cunégonde in his production. Anthony Tommasini writing on this staging for the New York Times said of her ''The bright-voiced soprano Meghan Picerno is an exuberant Cunegonde, the daughter of a Westphalian baron."{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/arts/music/review-the-adventures-of-candide-and-of-city-opera.html | title=Review: The Adventures of 'Candide,' and of City Opera | work=The New York Times | date=9 January 2017 | last1=Tommasini | first1=Anthony }}
Hal Prince and his team then cast Picerno as Christine Daaé in the U.S. Premiere and First National Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, the sequel to the hit and longest-running stage musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2019, she reprised the role in the second world tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Later in the year, she transferred to the New York production to make her Broadway debut in the role. After reopening The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, Picerno played her final show as Christine Daaé on January 23, 2022, ending her five-year run as the character.{{Cite web |title=Emilie Kouatchou Will Take Over as Christine Daaé in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera |url=https://playbill.com/article/emilie-kouatchou-will-take-over-as-christine-daae-in-broadways-the-phantom-of-the-opera |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=Playbill |language=en}} Dianna Wray writing in Houstonia magazine on the musical said of the singer's performance in the production ..."Piecerno provides one of the few truly breathtaking moments in the show as her glorious soprano easily filled the concert hall during the title song".{{cite web | url=https://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-culture/2018/07/love-never-dies-houston-review | title=Review: 'Love Never Dies' Reminds Us How Much We Love the Original }}
Performance credits
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American women opera singers
Category:American musical theatre actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses