Mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider has been
recognized for her “gleaming vocalism” (Boston
Globe), “star acting” (Urban Milwaukee), and
“superbly clear diction and warmly burnished
timbre” (South Florida Classical Review). In
demand for performances of classical and
contemporary opera alike, Ms. Crider created the
role of Alma in Keeril Makan and Jay Scheib’s
Persona in its world premiere with the Beth
Morrison Projects and later at LA Opera, about
which the New York Times remarked, “Amanda
Crider made a winsome, vulnerable, and when the
story turns dark, wildly volatile Alma,” and San
Francisco Classical Voice declared, “Crider’s
performance was a tour-de-force for its sustained
vocal luster, dramatic variation, and sheer amount
of singing.”
In the 2023-24 season, Amanda returns to the
Jacksonville Symphony as a soloist in performances of Mozart’s Coronation Mass and
Handel’s Messiah. The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park has also invited Amanda to
return for performances of Rossini’s Stabat Mater and a program titled Folk Songs & Fairy
Tales. In February, she will make her debut with the Kalamazoo Symphony as the mezzosoprano
soloist in Mozart’s Requiem.
Last season, Amanda performed the roles of second lady in The Magic Flute with Orlando
Opera and Isolier in Le comte Ory with Opera Southwest. She was also the soprano soloist
in performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Helena Symphony and Apollo’s Fire.
Performances in the 2021-22 season included the role of Penelope in a new opera by
composer Mary Prescott, A Survivor’s Odyssey with White Snake Projects, soloist in
Mozart’s Requiem with Elgin Symphony and Amarillo Symphony, and multiple appearances
with the GRAMMY® nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire, including Hildegard von Bingen’s
Ordo Virtutum in a new staging by Francesca Zambello.

Recently, Crider performed with Apollo’s Fire in Allure: The Three Amandas with sopranos
Amanda Forsythe and Amanda Powell. Additional recent appearances included a debut
with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Jacksonville
Symphony and a duo recital with countertenor, Reginald Mobley.
Crider has been seen as the title character in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Florentine
Opera, a role that she “wielded with beauty and charisma” (Voix des arts). Boston
University News Service declared her “the true star” for her leading role in Boston Lyric
Opera’s production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek, and Opera News lauded her
“beautiful work” and “agility” playing the English Teacher in Gregory Spears and Kathryn
Walat’s 2019 recording of Paul’s Case, a role which Crider premiered with the Prototype
Festival and Urban Arias in 2013.
A busy soloist and recitalist, Crider has appeared regularly with Seraphic Fire, Apollo’s Fire,
the Bach Festival Society of Florida, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the
Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, the Symphony Orchestras of Eugene, Savannah,
Charlotte, Syracuse, Charleston, Amarillo, Southwest Michigan and Jacksonville; and
Philharmonic Orchestras of Louisiana, Carnegie Mellon and Greeley. She made her
Carnegie Hall debut in the fall of 2007 singing as mezzo soloist in Messiah with the New
England Symphonic Ensemble, and returned the following season as soloist in Haydn’s Lord
Nelson Mass. She has performed as a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bach’s B
minor Mass, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C
minor, Britten’s Phaedra, Bach’s St. John Passion, Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony and
Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, and has been a featured recitalist on the Trinity Church
Concerts at One Series and with Five Boroughs Music Festival. Of her New World
Symphony performance of de Falla’s El Amor Brujo in 2014, South Florida Classical Review
wrote, “Amanda Crider’s smoky mezzo-soprano assayed the flamenco vocal solos with
gutsy abandon.”
Ms. Crider’s first foray into the operatic world as L’Enfant in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the
Tanglewood Music Center was hailed by Opera News as “delightful,” with the Boston Globe
stating she sang with “ineffable tenderness.” Since then, she has delighted audiences in the
roles of Angelina (La Cenerentola), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro),
Sesto (Handel Giulio Cesare), the title role in Carmen, Nellie Forbush (South Pacific), Diana
(Orpheus in the Underworld), Speranza/Pastore #3 (Monteverdi L’Orfeo), Siébel (Faust),
Olga (Eugene Onegin), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Laurey (Oklahoma) and Mallika
(Lakmé) at companies including the Dallas Opera, Orlando Opera, Florida Grand Opera,
Knoxville Opera, Opera Omaha, Nevada Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Eugene

Opera, Anchorage Opera and Opera Boston, New York City Opera, Castleton Festival and
Glimmerglass Opera.
Ms. Crider was a grant recipient from the Pittsburgh Concert Society, and a finalist in both
the Joy in Singing Debut Artist Competition and the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition.
She was a finalist in the José Iturbi International Voice Competition, the 2nd Place Winner
in the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition, Recipient of the Palm Beach
Opera Vocal Competition David and Ingrid Kosowsky Award, Finalist in the Oratorio
Society of New York Vocal Competition and Center for Contemporary Opera Competition,
and a Recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. Crider is
also the Founder and Artistic Director of Miami’s Art Song concert series, IlluminArts.