Corrie Donovan

Corrie Donovan’s many years performing in Bass Hall were on full display as she evoked a tempestuous sound that was both polished and distinctively powerful in Wild Swans —Fort Worth Weekly

Soprano CORRIE DONOVAN has been praised for her “soul stripping, lyrical” interpretations (TheaterJones) and her “polished and distinctively powerful” performances (Fort Worth Weekly). A genre-adventurous musician and performer, Corrie engages audiences with her iridescent presence and magnetic vulnerability in exploring a wide range of styles, languages, and performances. From premiers with Fort Worth Opera’s Modern Opera Showcases, to participating in Cirque Du Soleil’s vocal workshops in Mexico, Mrs. Donovan is committed to the full range of vocal expression. Other credits include the New York Baroque Festival, and singing opera in Brazil on the Holland America Maasdam.

Ms. Donovan’s captivating recitals often serve as repertoire mash-ups, offering audiences arias along with musical theater, jazz, traditional celtic, and art song. Throughout, Mrs. Donovan’s nimble explorations of meaning and text energizes audiences.

Corrie sang with the Fort Worth Opera Young Artist Studio for five seasons as principle and guest artist. She debuted in Philip Glass’s chamber opera, Hydrogen Jukebox, a production dubbed by D Magazine as “surely the year’s most significant operatic event.” An intrepid musical explorer, Mrs. Donovan has sung complex and experimental repertoire with Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers Showcases, where she dispatched extreme vocalizations including goat trills with ease. Examples of her adventurousness include starring in the world premier of Crozier’s With Blood, With Ink, as well as in performances of Adamo’s Lysistrata, and Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers in Virginia.

As soloist, Ms. Donovan has performed with many orchestras including the Corpus Christi Orchestra, Las Colinas Orchestra, and at the invitation of the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, Mrs. Donovan performed with the Centro Fox Youth Orchestra in Mexico. She has also performed with the award-winning American composer John Bucchino in the Cliburn concert series and was a soloist in the American Music Festival for works with Ricky Ian Gordon.

Beyond performing, Corrie is an active musical arranger with a focus on reimagining classical repertoire. Using re-conceived operatic, symphonic, chamber, and minimalist works, Corrie creates striking and surprisingly affecting arrangements and settings. Corrie’s projects include creating intimate concert experiences to help audiences make meaningful personal connections with the music.

Growing up, Corrie spent summers in her father’s homeland, Scotland, where she and her sister regularly sang traditional celtic music for friends, family, and private events. It was the music’s chant-like storytelling and emotional directness that got to her and have influenced her approach to music and life.