Internationally known as a voice pedagogue, mezzo-soprano, and stage director, Dr. Cynthia Skelley-Wohlschlager is a member of the Cleveland Institute of Music's Conservatory Voice and Opera Faculty and is the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Young Artist Programs for Nightingale Opera Theatre. Praised for her dramatic depth and vocal versatility, she has performed extensively both internationally and domestically in opera, oratorio, and in recital. Role highlights include Mrs. DeRocher in Dead Man Walking, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Secretary in The Consul, Alma March in Little Women, Lola/Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana, Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites, Ludmilla in Bartered Bride, and Marthe in Faust. Wohlschlager has been described as applying commanding intensity to every line, with the ability to act and sing powerfully as well as act with sly humor. 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, Doug Davis Composition and Performance Award, and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. She was a featured soloist at the Spoleto Music Festival in Italy for the Concert of the Midnight Hour and sang under the baton of Eduardo Müller in Graz. Passionate about working with living composers, she performed the one woman surround sound concert story Rahab by MacDowell Fellow Jesse Ayers both in recording and for the CFAMC conference. Cynthia was a team member in 2016 for the Cleveland Art Song Festival and has had the opportunity to work in masterclass with Susan Graham, Elly Ameling, Mirella Freni, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Peter Kazaras, Edward Crossley Mercer, Jason Paul Peterson, John Wustman, and Bodo Igez.
Highlights from recent work in stage direction includes Two Remain (Jake Heggie), Cendrillon (Pauline Viardot), If I Were You (Heggie), Pinocchio (Dove), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Todd), Gallantry (Moore), A Certain Madness (Bridger Heruth), and Little Women (Adamo). She has also directed standards such as Le Nozze di Figaro, La Finta Giardiniera, The Medium, Die Zauberflöte, Die Fledermaus, The Medium, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Trial by Jury, and HMS Pinafore. A champion of new works and living composers, Dr. Wohlschlager has both sung and staged premieres of a variety of chamber operas and song cycles. Her production of Beneath Suspicion by Jesse Ayers was a semi-finalist for The American Prize. Her directing aesthetic is grounded in strong collaborative practice, musical integrity, and dramaturgical clarity, with a commitment to storytelling that is musically informed, socially relevant, and dramatically compelling. She has directed more than 35 full productions across the U.S. and internationally, with repertoire spanning canonical masterworks and contemporary opera. 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. A passion for social justice and education has led to a commitment championing contemporary operatic works. As the Director of Young Artist Programs for Nightingale Opera Theatre, Wohlschlager directed Jake Heggie's If I Were You for the Young Artist Program during the summer of 2022. The program involved performers and composers working in masterclass, conversations, and lessons with Heggie, as well as a call for scores from emerging opera composers. The selected new works were workshopped, directed, and presented by Dr. Wohlschlager in a staged showcase.
As a guest on national and international media platforms, she has been interviewed by The Jewish Independent, Australian Arts Review, Radio RRR Melbourne, and others, particularly for her work on LGBTQIA+ stories in opera and Holocaust remembrance through performance. Research areas include 21st-century opera, motivic tracing in operatic literature, and pedagogical interests in healthy singing and timbre development, tracing Wagner's influence through French Composition during the Decade 1882-1892, Analysis of Vocal Formants, Effective Pedagogy in Opera Direction, and Hysteria, Character Perception, and Musical Treatment in Strauss's Elektra. Wohlschlager's scholarship on the works of Jake Heggie was established whilst music directing and portraying Mrs. De Rocher and music directing Dead Man Walking. The pursuit deepened with a lecture recital of Heggie's Three Decembers alongside a presentation on LQBTQIA and 21st Century Themes. Her doctoral document, "Shared Dramatic Pacing in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers," found on ProQuest, underscores her dedication to bridging analytical research with performance and direction of 21st century opera. Presentations and Masterclasses have been given with the Indonesian Voice Association, NATS, AMEA, LOOC, VOCI, and conservatories and universities across the U.S. and abroad.
Student Success
Students have achieved successes, earning top honors in prestigious 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 consistently excel in NATS Competitions, advancing to the national level. Their artistry has graced renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and Weill Recital Hall, and they have been selected for esteemed programs, including Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Opera Lucca, Emerald City, CoOperative, Ice Factory, Anywhere Festival, NISHMI, and the New York Theater Institute at Juilliard. Graduates of Dr. Wohlschlager’s studio have pursued advanced studies at Yale, Indiana University, Rice University, San Francisco Conservatory, UMKC, Royal Central School of London, Vanderbilt, and other distinguished institutions. They have performed with organizations such as The Cleveland Opera, Opera Cleveland, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Circle, Sarasota Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Colorado, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and numerous regional symphonies and theaters.
Education
-
DMA, Voice Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature - James Madison University
-
Professional Studies Diploma - The Cleveland Institute of Music
-
BM & MM, Voice Performance - The University of Akron
Teaching/Directing Experience
-
Associate Artistic Director and Young Artist Program Director, Nightingale Opera Theatre
-
Voice and Opera Conservatory Faculty, The Cleveland Institute of Music
-
Assistant Professor of Practice, Voice Faculty & Director of Lyric Theater, Northern Arizona University
-
Assistant Professor, Voice Faculty & Director of Opera, Kennesaw State University
-
Voice Area Coordinator & Director of Vocal Theater, Cleveland State University
-
Instructor of Opera History, Opera Stage and Musical Direction, James Madison University
-
Artist in Residence, Voice Area Coordinator & Director of Opera, Malone University
-
Summer Festival Teaching/Directing, Italy, Switzerland, Australia