Joanna Wernette, Mezzo-soprano, is originally from Chicago, IL. On the operatic stage, Wernette has sung title roles in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Bizet/Brooks' La Tragedie de Carmen. Other notable leading roles included Wernette’s international operatic debut with the Festival Lyrique en Mer in Belle ile en Mer, France singing the roles of Tisbe in Rossini's La Cenerentola and Emilia in Verdi's Otello, returning the following summer to sing the roles of Mercedes in Bizet's Carmen and Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Featured concert performances include cantatas 170 and 199 by J.S. Bach, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and as a featured soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem. Wernette has premiered many contemporary works and has recorded and performed a live broadcast of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire on WFMT, Chicago's classical radio station.
Wernette has been a professional chorus member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Symphony Chorus, San Antonio Chamber Chorus, Colorado Bach Ensemble, and was a member of the opera chorus in Bravo! Vail's summer opera production of Tosca. In recent years, Wernette has been a soloist and alto section leader with the Western Colorado Chorale and is currently the Music Director at the UUCGV, and teaches privately in addition to teaching at CMU. Also a blues/folk/jazz/rock/singer/songwriter, Wernette is a singer and teacher of all genres, who is passionate about bringing out the best in her students in the genres they love to sing.
Joanna Wernette's Curriculum Vitae