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Dr. Cynthia Skelley-Wohlschlager is internationally known as an operatic stage and music director, voice pedagogue, and mezzo-soprano. A passion for social justice and education has led to a commitment championing contemporary and lesser-known operatic works. Wohlschlager's scholarship on the works of Jake Heggie was established whilst music directing and portraying Mrs. De Rocher in Dead Man Walking. The pursuit deepened with a lecture recital of Heggie's Three Decembers alongside a presentation on LQBTQIA and 21st Century Themes and the research "Shared Dramatic Pacing in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers," available on ProQuest. As the Director of Young Artist Programs and Associate Artistic Director for Nightingale Opera Theatre, Wohlschlager directed Heggie's If I Were You in Summer 2022. The program involved a residency working in masterclass, conversations, and lessons with the composer, as well as a call for scores from emerging opera composers. The selected new works were workshopped, directed, and presented in a staged showcase.

 

Directing credits include over 35 titles with production highlights including Dove's Pinocchio, Todd's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Adamo's Little Women, Moore's Gallantry, and Bridger Heruth's A Certain Madness. Her production of Beneath Suspicion by composer Jesse Ayers was a named semi-finalist for the American Prize. Other productions include large selections of the canon including titles such as Die Fledermaus, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, La Finta Giardiniera, The MediumAmahl and the Night Visitors, and many of the comedies of Gilbert and Sullivan. Summer 2024 features included a production of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon and a continuation of research on dramatic pacing and motivic development whilst directing Heggie's Two Remain at 45downstairs in Melbourne, Australia. The production of Two Remain, comprised of a collaboration between Australian and American creatives, traveled to Beachwood, Ohio in September 2024.

 

As a performer, Wohlschlager has been described as applying commanding intensity to every line (Cleveland.com), with the ability to act and sing powerfully as well as act with sly humor (Cleveland Classical). Awards include the O.D. Taliaferro Opera Award, the Max Berman Award for Outstanding Vocal Performance and the Dewey and Mary Gilley Award for Distinguished Opera, Tuesday Musical Competition, and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. Wohlschlager's dedication to children having early exposure to opera has led to school tours as a performer with Cleveland Opera as well as both directing and performing shows through Akron Children's Concert Society. 

Highlights of operatic roles performed include Mrs. DeRocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers, Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, Ludmilla in Smetana's Bartered Bride, Madame De Croissy in Poulenc’s Dialogue of the Carmelites, Marthe in Gounod’s Faust, Alma March in Adamo’s Little Women, Dritte Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and the Witch and Mother in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.​

 

At The Cleveland Institute of Music, she teaches applied voice, directs the chamber choir, and teaches voice area studio class for the Academy, as well as teaching voice lessons for Continuing Education, Conservatory Secondary, and the Joint Music Program with Case Western Reserve University. Recent higher education experience includes teaching for Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta, Georgia where she was Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Opera, Assistant Professor of Practice for Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where she taught voice and directed opera. At Malone University in Ohio, she was Artist in Residence, Voice Coordinator,

and Director of Opera.​

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  • DMA in Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature in 2020, James Madison University

  • Professional Studies Diploma, The Cleveland Institute of Music

  • MM, Voice Performance, The University of Akron​

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Students from Cynthia’s studio have gone on to study at Yale, Indiana, Rice, San Francisco Conservatory, UMKC, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Royal Central School of London, and Vanderbilt, among others.

 

Studio members have won top prizes in national and international competitions, including Osaka International, London International Virtuoso, Schloss-Mirabell, Classical Singer, Orpheus, New York Lyric Opera, Metropolitan Opera Laffont, and Irma Cooper Competitions. Students also regularly place in NATS Competitions advancing to National NATS.

 

Students have performed in concert and recital at Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and attend Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Opera Lucca, Emerald City, CoOperative, Ice Factory, Anywhere Festival, NISHMI, and the New York Theater Institute at Juilliard.

 

Students have gone on to work professionally with numerous companies, including The Cleveland Opera, Opera Cleveland, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Opera Circle, Sarasota Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Colorado, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Canton Comic Opera, Player's Guild Theatre, Akron Civic Theatre, Cain Park, Dobama Theater, and Cleveland Public Theater.​

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