Quinn Patrick Ankrum
Mezzo-soprano Quinn Patrick Ankrum performs a wide variety of repertoire spanning the centuries, from the early Baroque period to the works of living composers. Equally at home on the concert, opera, and recital stages, she has sung with opera companies, orchestras, and festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including the Dallas Opera, Jacksonville Lyric Opera, Mercury Opera (Rochester, NY), National Orchestra of Mexico, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Ash Lawn-Highland Summer Festival, Lorn Live Chamber Music Festival (Oban, Scotland), and the East Anglian Academy of Early Music (Framlingham, England).
An advocate of new music, Ankrum has premiered several works during her career, including John Harbison’s chamber work Crossroads, Libby Larsen's duet "Little Birds", and Lisa Neher’s No One Saves the Earth from Us but Us. With pianist Elizabeth Avery, she is the co-creator of Living Song Project, a unique online database that promotes the art song and vocal chamber music of living American composers.
In addition to being an active performer and researcher, Ankrum is a successful voice teacher with a deep interest in Musicians’ Health and Wellness. She is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator (LBME), a student of the Alexander Technique, and does further work in trauma-informed pedagogy as a trained facilitator of mind-body practices. She incorporates the principles of these disciplines into her studio teaching. As a LBME, she works with students of all instruments as well as conductors to help them find greater awareness, easefulness, and freedom in their music making. Her students are building careers at the local, regional, and national levels.
Ankrum received degrees from Trinity University in San Antonio (BM, MAT), the University of Colorado at Boulder (MM) and the University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music (DMA). She was a Young Artist in the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program and the Baltimore Opera Studio, and participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program. She has been a finalist and winner in numerous regional and national competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions (Rocky Mountain Region) and the NATS Artist Awards competition (2nd place winner, 2006). She has served on the faculties of SUNY Fredonia (New York), Nazareth College (Rochester, NY), and Texas Tech University (Lubbock). She currently serves as Associate Professor on the Voice Faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.