“The assertive Mezzo” (Wall Street Journal) Carlyle Quinn has been described as a singer of “vocal prowess and acting acumen” (Cleveland Classical). Ms. Quinn’s 2022/23 season began with her “brilliantly characterized” (Cleveland Classical) portrayal of Madame de la Haltière in Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon with the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater. She also enjoyed performances of Madame de Croissy in Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, where her “riveting death scene” was described as “outstanding” (Cleveland Classical). Other season highlights included: performances of Florence Pike in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring with Harrower Summer Opera, her Alto Soloist debut in Mozart’s Requiem with the Lima Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andrew Crust, a recital of arts songs and solo piano works with frequent collaborator, Matias Cuevas, presented by the Church of the Western Reserve Concert Series, her first full-length performance of Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -Leben with pianist, Gabriel Silva, in CIM’s Mixon Hall, and a solo recital entitled, “Of Things Loved & Lost,” with pianist, Melivia Raharjo, in CIM’s Mixon Hall. Carlyle was also a 2023 Encouragement Award Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition Michigan District, a Semifinalist in the Dallas Opera Guild’s Lone Star Vocal Competition, and a Semifinalist in the Federation of Art Song Fellowship Competition with collaborator, Matias Cuevas. 

During the 2021/22 season, Carlyle performed selections from Bizet’s Carmen as the titular role of Carmen with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in an Opera Gala celebrating the centennial of the vocal department. She went on to portray Meg Page in a abridged version of Verdi’s Falstaff as part of CIMOT’s Shakespeare, Operatically, a festival-style program of operatic treatments of Shakespeare works. Continuing with the theme of Shakespeare, she was later a guest artist with the Rutgers University Mason Gross School for the Arts Opera Theater, performing the dialogue role of Puck in their production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — showcasing her vast dance and theater background. This season also brought her to the Utah Vocal Arts Academy, where she performed Ježibaba in Dvořák’s Rusalka. Other season highlights included: a solo recital with pianist, Melivia Raharjo, performing selections of Bach, Händel, Mahler, and Poulenc, and her participation in the Cleveland Art Song Festival alongside collaborator, Lu Niu, working with practitioners: Warren Jones, David Portillo, Craig Terry, and Tamara Wilson.  Carlyle was also a 2022 Encouragement Award Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition Utah District. 

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Quinn’s 2020/21 season was characterized by a variety of performances in the virtual space, including: her portrayal of Oberon, Hermia, and Cobweb within a single, film production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Juilliard Opera Theater, covering Arcane in a virtual adaptation of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Teseo with the Juilliard Opera Theater, a recorded Liederabend of mélodie with pianist, Eduardo de la Vega, coached and curated by maestro Pierre Vallet in Juilliard’s Paul Hall, and a virtual solo recital entitled, “The morns are meeker than they were” with pianist, Adam Nielsen. Ms. Quinn was also honored to be a 2021 participant in the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Vocal Academy.  

The 2019/20 season brought about an exciting collaboration between the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLive Arts Series, the New York Philharmonic, and the Juilliard Opera Theater as a part of the New York Phil’s Project19, a celebration of the one-hundred year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment; the collaboration culminated in a production of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s The Mother of Us All in the Charles Engelhard Court of the Met Museum, wherein Ms. Quinn portrayed the role of Indiana Elliot. During this season, Carlyle also portrayed a modified characterization of Madame de Croissy from Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites in a devised production entitled, There’s Blood Between Us, which included scenes from Poulenc’s opera and selections from Fauré’s Requiem and Aaron Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. She collaborated with the New York Philharmonic for a second time this season, singing the Mezzo II part in Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes in David Geffen Hall under the baton of Maestro Louis Langrée. 

In the 2018/19 season, Carlyle participated in the Juilliard Opera Theater x Juilliard415 collaboration of Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, in which she covered the titular role of Dido. This production premiered at Juilliard’s Wilson Theater and toured to the Joye in Aiken Festival, Opera Holland Park, and L’Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles. 

Between 2014 and 2017, Carlyle was a member of the celebrated Juilliard Pre-College program, where she studied with Lorraine Nubar and received a generous merit scholarship from the George London Foundation. Here, she performed her first Alto Solo in Joseph Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. In 2017, she attended the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie as an apprentice artist, performing in an Operngala with the Nürnberger Symphonikern under the baton of Maestro Hofstetter, a Liederabend at the Historischer Reitstadel Neumarkt, and a Cabaret concert alongside famed pianist, Craig Terry. She was accepted at the prestigious Juilliard School at the age of sixteen and completed her Bachelor of Music studies in 2021, under the tutelage of Edith Wiens. Ms. Quinn completed her Master of Music studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2023 with Dr. Mary Schiller. She graduated from CIM with the artistic honor of the Boris Goldovsky Prize in Opera, recognizing outstanding operatic performance, and was the inaugural recipient of the Emma Lincoln Scholarship for voice. Ms. Quinn continues her vocal studies with acclaimed soprano, Jennifer Rowley. 

Carlyle grew up in the Pacific Northwest and was an avid opera lover from the age of eight. She performed in her first ever opera in 2013, as the Shepherd Boy in the Portland Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. In the years 2014 and 2016, she was a winner of the MetroArts’ Young Artists Debut Concerto Competition, winning performances with an orchestra comprised of members of the Oregon Symphony and the Portland Opera wherein she performed selections from Chrisoph Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Charles Gounod’s Faust in Lincoln Hall and the Newmark Theater, respectively. In 2015, she performed as the Faerie No. 2 soloist in Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Oregon Ballet Theater.