Leah Hawkins
Soprano Leah Hawkins is the recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2024 Beverly Sills Artist Award and a graduate of their Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Additional honors include the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Women in Classical Music Career Advancement Award and a Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant.
Highlights of the 24/25 season include her San Francisco Symphony debut in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Music Director Esa Pekka-Salonen and returns to The Metropolitan Opera for Il trovatore and Arizona Opera for her highly anticipated titular role debut in Aida. On the concert stage she returns to The Philadelphia Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, debuts with The Apollo Orchestra as a guest soloist in a concert of Verdi Arias, and returns to the Park Avenue Armory for a self-curated recital entitled C’est ainsi que tu es or That is how you are, which is “a glimpse into my ongoing journey of finding, accepting, and living as my truest self.” Future engagements include debuts with La Monnaie and The Dallas Opera, along with a return to The Metropolitan Opera.
Last season, Leah returned to The Metropolitan Opera as the Soprano Soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in the same piece conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at The Hollywood Bowl. Other season engagements included a role debut in Anthony Davis’ X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Louise/Betty) with The Metropolitan Opera and Seattle Opera. This past spring, she made her role and house debut at Dutch National Opera in a new production of Il tabarro (Giorgetta) directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Lorenzo Viotti. On the concert stage she performed the Dvořák Requiem with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Past engagements include her debut at the Opéra national de Paris in 7 Deaths of Maria Callas (Desdemona) before returning to the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Porgy & Bess (Strawberry Woman). She made her debuts with Des Moines Metro Opera in Porgy & Bess (Serena), with Portland Opera for Journeys to Justice, with Tulsa Opera for Greenwood Overcomes, and with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for Song of America: Celebration of Black Music.
While in the Lindemann Program at The Metropolitan Opera she was seen in Porgy & Bess (Strawberry Woman), Pique Dame (Masha), Suor Angelica (Alms Collector), and Aida (High Priestess). She made her Colorado Symphony debut in the Verdi Requiem and gave a recital at the Park Avenue Armory. Ms. Hawkins is an alumna of the Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera, where she appeared in the world premiere of Mazzoli’s Proving Up (Mrs. Johannes “Ma” Zegner), Don Carlo (Celestial Voice), Fairouz’s The Dictator’s Wife, Blanchard’s Champion (Cousin Blanche/Sadie Griffith), and Glass’ Appomattox (Mrs. Dorsey/Amelia Boynton).
On the concert stage she has appeared with Yale Philharmonia in Mahler Symphony No. 2, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Porgy and Bess (Serena) with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and in A Space Odyssey with The Philadelphia Orchestra. She appeared with The Apollo Orchestra in Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in A Celebration of Black History where she performed Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and The National Symphony Orchestra in Songfest by Leonard Bernstein. Leah received her Master of Music in Voice from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts in Music from Morgan State University.
