Biography
Megan Callahan has garnered praise for her “rich mezzo-soprano voice with full presence and unique color” by the Palm Beach Daily News. During her two year residency with Palm Beach Opera, Ms. Callahan appeared as Mercédès in Carmen, Dritte Knabe in Die Zauberflöte, and the title role of Dido in PBO’s Discovery Series production of Dido & Aeneas.
Megan has won Encouragement Awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions for both the Tulsa and North Carolina districts. She was also a semi-finalist of both the Tri-Cities Opera Next competition and the SAS Performing Arts competition.
During her two-year artist diploma with the Boston University Opera Institute, Ms. Callahan explored her passion for contemporary American works through her performances as Estelle Oglethorpe in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening, the title role in Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, as well as the role of Gertrude Stein in Tom Cipullo’s After Life.
Other notable stage credits include Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito)* (*performance cancelled due to Covid-19), the Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Frau Reich (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Presendia (Dark Sisters), and Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites). Additionally, she has sung the role of Muhly's Wife and covered the role of Ma Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis during her time as a Gerdine Young Artist. Equally well-versed in Golden Age musical theatre, Ms. Callahan has delighted audiences as Marian Paroo (The Music Man) and Lucinda (Into The Woods) with the Seagle Music Colony.
Ms. Callahan holds a Performance Studies Certificate in Opera Performance from the Boston University Opera Institute where she studied with Penelope Bitzas, as well as a Master of Music in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory where she studied with Dr. Rebecca Folsom. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, magna cum laude, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she studied with Dr. Carla LeFevre.
Megan is a passionate linguist and earned her upper-intermediate Spanish language certificate from the Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural immersion school in Seville, Spain when she studied abroad in 2011. When she is not performing, Megan can be found studying for her French language certificate, playing her favorite Chopin piano pieces, or creating craft cocktail recipes as a professional mixologist at The Daily Refresher in Rochester, New York.
In the press
“Megan Callahan is the Dido we need. She emerged in Act I with a rich mezzo-soprano voice with full presence and unique color. Callahan is beautifully aware of nuance in her voice...the subtlety with which she shifts registers, a lush and sultry sound, convinced us that this was a strong Dido who was in control of her destiny.”
“As Carmen’s other friend Mercédès, mezzo-soprano Megan Callahan sang with rich, glossy tones.”
“Mother Marie of the Incarnation, the stern voice of dogmatic rigidity within the Carmelite community, was sung by mezzo-soprano Megan Callahan with ironclad assurance and a wide emotional spectrum that was evidence of what promises to develop into a noteworthy interpretive acuity.”
“Megan Callahan, doubling Vixen Mother and Fox, filled the house with clear and attractive tones. As the Fox she executed an elegant Prince Charming routine that the Vixen sensibly did not resist.”
“The appealing mezzo-soprano Megan Callahan...was poignant, conveying sorrow over a layer of strength and despair that floated on a warm texture of dignity.”