Biography
Michigan born contralto, Gwenneth Bean, is a graduate of Mona Shores High School. Her incredible career has taken her to opera stages and concert halls throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. She has sung numerous roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and opera houses in Dallas, Miami, Santa Fe, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Vienna, Rome, Paris, London, and more. She toured Japan with the Metropolitan Opera, and toured Europe and the United States with the late maestro Leonard Bernstein, conducting his own Songfest Cycle which aired on television as well as on PBS’s Live From The Capitol July 4th broadcast. Ms. Bean has worked with conductors Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin, Seji Ozawa, Andrew Davis, Hugh Wolf, James Levine, Charles Dutoit as well as the late Leonard Bernstein, to name a few. She has been a soloist on the Carnegie Hall stage eleven times and has performed with The American Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, New York Oratorio Society, Denver Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, the Rome and Toronto Symphonies, and many others. She has appeared on several Live From Lincoln Center PBS broadcasts and numerous Texaco radio broadcasts.
Gwenneth Bean has shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Renee Fleming, Sherill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Jerry Hadley, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and many others. She has had an extensive career in recitals, concerts and oratorio works, and is on the roster of the Community Concert series. She has also performed in off-Broadway hits such as The Sound of Music, Carousel, and Girl Crazy. She has four CDs available, The Contralto Voice, The Best Gift, Behold His Glory, and Gwenneth Bean Sings Her Favorites. She has performed with Opera Grand Rapids in Faust, Romeo and Juliet, and The Flying Dutchman and recently was the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah at DeVos Hall. Ms. Bean sang Mahler’s Eighth with the Grand Rapids Symphony and was featured in Night of the Opera with the Holland Symphony as well as playing the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Ms. Bean's recent performances with the Mercury Opera Company as Dame Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff played to rave reviews.
Ms. Bean resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, teaching private voice, and is the Director of Music and Worship at Spring Lake Christian Reformed Church. She sings as much as possible including the national anthem at many sporting events. She is often seen performing benefits for the charities and issues she supports.
What They Say
Opera News - Unusual richness and glow...Ms. Bean's is a voice with a future.
The Washington Post - A phenomenal presence...her warm voice elicited intense sympathy.
Chicago Tribune - Gwenneth Bean was excellent as the nurse with her exceptionally powerful, rich sound.
New York Times - The vocal astonishment of the evening came elsewhere as in the Carnegie Hall debut of contralto Gwenneth Bean. She was as eloquent an Erda as I have ever heard. When she returned for her solo bow, the house came down.
Santa Fe Reporter - Gwenneth Bean's contralto voice is a voice of rich, deep sound, great amplitude, and immense potential.
Musical America - Metropolitan Opera contralto Gwenneth Bean is a rare gem - one of the best Wagnerian sounds on the opera stage at present.
Wall Street Journal - No great singing in Strauss' opera Daphne except from huge earth mother, Gwenneth Bean - who must do a super Erda in Wagner's Ring Cycle.
Los Angeles Times - The steady responsible nature of this rare contralto to achieve mature artistry could only be a prize to the world starved for the combination she presents - a great voice and a big heart.
Detroit Free Press - Ms. Bean's powerful, deeply-colored voice and consistently focused acting reaffirmed her status as a major operatic force in today's world.
Dallas Times Herald - Full voiced contralto, Gwenneth Bean, showed an endearing knack for comedy in the part of Martha, the neighbor.
San Francisco Chronicle - Contralto Gwenneth Bean made a striking debut in the disappointingly small role of Gaea. Singing with deep potent tones and deceptively understated phrasing, she captured instantly the character's wisdom and resigned acknowledgement of her daughter's oddities.
Opera News - As often happens, the cameo role of the old, blind Madelon, sung here by Gwenneth Bean, stole the show.