Dawn Padula, mezzo-soprano, is an avid performer of operatic and concert literature. Recent operatic performances include the roles of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Meg in Falstaff, Mercedes in Carmen, The Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur (Opera in the Heights), the Gingerbread Witch in Hansel and Gretel (The Living Opera), Loma Williams in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Vera in Gene Murray’s The Wage of Sin (Amarillo Opera), Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Erika in Vanessa, and Marchesa Melibea in Il Viaggio a Reims (Moores School of Music Opera Center), Ragonde in Le Comte Ory (Manhattan School of Music Opera Theatre), and the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas (Ars Lyrica Houston/Houston Chamber Choir). The Newport Classics label has released her performance as Bellino in Casanova’s Homecoming with the Moores Opera Center. Dr. Padula also created the role of Hagga for the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ The Thirteen Clocks (also recorded for commercial release for the Moores Opera Center). For the Houston Grand Opera, Dr. Padula sang the role of Sappho in a reading and recording session of Mark Adamo’s newest opera, Lysistrata, as well as participating in scenes from Daniel Catan’s Salsipuedes, for their New Music Week.

Her concert and oratorio repertoire includes solo work in Durufle’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s Requiem, Solemn Vespers, and Coronation Mass, Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Schubert’s Ständchen, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Choral Fantasy and Symphony No. 9, Honnegger’s King David, Bach’s Magnificat, Bernstein’s Chicester Psalms, and Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War. She has appeared as a soloist with such organizations as the Houston Masterworks Chorus, the Houston Chamber Choir, the Alamo City Men’s Chorale, the Sons of Orpheus Men’s Ensemble, CANTARE Houston, Mercury Baroque, the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra, the Men’s Consort of Houston, the Symphony North of Houston, the Black Note Ensemble, the Bay Area Chorus, and the Foundation for Modern Music. With Ars Lyrica Houston, she has portrayed the roles of both Tempo and Disinganno in the American premiere of the 1737 version of Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo é delle Veritá, the role of Phoebus in Bach’s BWV 201, and the role of Cain in Scarlatti’s Il Primo Omicidio Overo. She performed as the Alto Soloist in Penderecki’s Credo with the Houston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Jahja Ling of the San Diego Symphony. She also performed as the Alto Soloist in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus with CANTARE Houston in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts’ Zilkha Hall. Recently, she performed Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden with Col Canto Houston, and Brahms’ Zwei Gesänge, and David Ashley White’s Homages with the St. Cecilia Chamber Music Society of Houston.

Dr. Padula has been a member of the Opera Studio of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, was a semi-finalist in both the Shreveport Opera and NATS Singer of the Year Competitions, was a regional finalist in the San Francisco Opera Center’s Merola Program auditions, and was named a Fellow to the Tanglewood Music Center. Dr. Padula holds a Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance from Trinity University, a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in Vocal Performance with a concentration in Vocal Pedagogy and Voice Science from the University of Houston Moores School of Music.