About Renee Macdonald

Rising soprano Renee Macdonald is a young professional at the onset of her career whose recent performance engagements include the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Seagle Festival (2024).  She will make her company debut with Opera Montana as both the Witch and Mother in their 2025 production of Hansel and Gretel.

A highlighted soloist with the Opera Philadelphia Chorus in spring of 2024, Macdonald has also had the pleasure of being featured with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.  Her love of symphonic works continues to blossom through her membership in the recently unionized Philadelphia Symphonic Choir.

Having studied with some of opera’s finest (Christine Goerke, Samuel Ramey, and Alan Held), Macdonald’s vocal prowess has earned her recognition in multiple competitions, including Opera Mississippi’s John Alexander National Vocal Competition (semi-finalist, 2023), the Metropolitan National Council Competition (winner, Tulsa District, 2018), the Wichita Symphony Orchestra’s Naftzger Competition (2017), and others.  Past roles include Dying Juana in Crozier’s With Blood, With Ink, Puccini’s eponymous Suor Angelica, Silvia in Mascagni’s Il Zanetto, Handel’s eponymous Alcina, Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Emilie in Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, and Margaret (The Light in the Piazza).

Currently based in Philadelphia, Macdonald completed both her Master’s and Certificate of Opera Performance at Wichita State University and holds a Bachelor’s of Voice Performance from Western Michigan University.  She also studied at the Bel Canto Institute of San Miguel, the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and Canta in Italia, a training program based in Lucca, Italy.