Dee Donasco
Vocals
Praised as an artist who embraces vocal versatility, Philippine-born soprano Dee Donasco has attracted attention with a voice that crosses a variety of musical genres. Equally at home with opera, oratorio or recital, jazz and pop, musical theater, and accomplished in classical works ranging from baroque to modern contemporary, she brings rewarding vocal and dramatic range to her work, as The Dallas Morning News writes of her performance with Voices of Change of Ursula Mamlok’s Stray Birds: “What made the experience riveting was soprano Dee Donasco’s amazing singing. She negotiated wide leaps with uncanny precision — indeed, artistry — with an enameled tone of real beauty.”
In a very busy 2022/23 season, Dee made her mainstage debut with Nashville Opera as Mrs. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium. She also made performance debuts as a featured guest artist with Columbus Symphony Orchestra for the Patriotic Pops Concert and the Gala Event and with Seattle Symphony Orchestra for Holiday Pops. At less than a day’s notice, she made her debut with Nashville Symphony Orchestra for Music City Christmas getting to perform alongside country music star, Mickey Guyton. Other performances for that season include her return to sing with Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for the Independence Day Celebration, with Marin Symphony for Holiday Pops, and with Gyros String Quartet in Dallas, TX for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Upcoming performances include her return with Columbus Symphony and Nashville Opera as well as her debut with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dee made her international debut on a concert tour of Ireland in 2016. She has appeared as a featured guest artist with Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Kingsville Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She also performed for the Duke Ellington Foundation’s Holiday Celebration in New York City, plus her critically acclaimed performances as the title role in Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and Alba in Rodriguez' La Curandera with Opera Piccola San Antonio.
Dee spent the summer of 2012 as an Apprentice Artist for Chautauqua Opera where she covered the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and also appeared as a featured soloist in concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She made her Dallas Symphony Orchestra debut as the featured guest artist for the 2011 New Year’s Eve Concert. She appeared as Mahalath in the world premiere of Mark Peterson’s A New Nation and later performed as guest artist on the U.S. national tour of world renowned, The Priests- Irish tenors in 2013.
A child prodigy winning the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) of the Philippines at age 10, she has continued to win numerous awards including first place in the San Antonio Vocal Competition and the SMU Meadows Concerto Competition, second place in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, third place in the Lois Alba Aria Competition and the Jensen Foundation Voice Competition. A regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions 2011, Dee returned to Opera North to sing Susanna in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro after making her company debut in 2010 as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 2009, she made her debut at the San Antonio Opera as Ines in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Other noted operatic roles she has performed are Laurie in Copland's The Tender Land, Euridice in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld and Aminta in Mozart's Il Re Pastore. Her concert works include the Coronation Mass and Requiem by Mozart, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Michael Haydn’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel's Messiah, Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres, Britten’s Les Illuminations, Chausson’s Poéme de l’amour et de la mer, and Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Dee earned her Master's degree in Music and Performance Diploma at Southern Methodist University with a full artistic scholarship. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi. She served as Adjunct Professor of Voice and Lyric Theatre at the University of Dallas for four years prior to moving to Tennessee. Her most cherished and greatest achievement to date is being a mother of two beautiful human beings.
