This season, mezzo-soprano Olivia Gronenthal appears as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, a co-production of OPERA San Antonio and Austin Opera. She recently debuted as the Super Fan in Nathan Felix’s Glory Gone at the Radius Center and will spend the summer as the mezzo opera resident with the Lakes Area Music Festival, covering Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel).
A versatile performer, Gronenthal has been seen as a Studio Artist and soloist with OPERA San Antonio–Classical Music Institute and has performed roles including Mrs. Nolan (The Medium), Cendrillon (Cendrillon), and Miep Gies in the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank. Other notable roles include Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Bianca (The Rape of Lucretia), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte). She studied at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where she performed Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus).
A passionate advocate for new music, she was a member of the 2020 Song Genesis Project, premiering Abaude on Cold Moon, and performed in the world premiere of Elizabeth Gartman’s New Motive Power. In concert, she was a featured soloist in An Evening on Broadway with Nathan and Julie Jordan Gunn.
Gronenthal earned degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Deanne Meek and Peter Volpe.