Melissa Attebury, mezzo-soprano, has performed numerous operatic and musical theatre roles including the title role in Carmen, Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Lelia (Iolanthe), Blanche (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Phoebe (Yeomen of the Guard), Lisa (Grand Duke), Melissa (Princess Ida), Pitti-Sing (Mikado) Kate (Pirates of Penzance), Stephano (Romeo et Juliette), Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus), Giovanna (Rigoletto) and Nellie (South Pacific).  A specialist in the operetta’s of Gilbert and Sullivan, she has been hailed as “appealing both vocally and comedically” (Kansas City Star) for her work in this genre. Following her recent performance as Lisa in The Grand Duke,  critics called her mezzo soprano voice "lustrous, sumptuous" (Theater Scene) and her rendition of the role was "exquisitely sung, garnering one of the biggest hands of the evening"  (Forbes on Footlights and Film).  

Praised by the New York Times as a "rich-toned alto who brought a measure of depth to (her) performance", she  is a frequently engaged as soloist in concerts and oratorio.  Recent engagements include Handel’s Messiah, the Vivaldi Gloria, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Haydn Mass in Time of War, Purcell’s Te Deum and Jubilate, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Missa Brevis in G Major and Missa Brevis in A, Missa Brevis in G Minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, and the Monteverdi Vespers.  She was a soloist in the world premiere of Robert Levin’s completed edition of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, performed on historical instruments and broadcast live on WQXR. Ms. Attebury has sung with several chamber and choral groups in the New York area, including the Manhattan Voices, Tiffany Consort, New York Canticum Novum Singers, New York Virtuoso Singers,The Brearley Singers, Musica Sacra, Westchester Oratorio Society, and the Clarion Music Society.  She was a District winner in the 2001 Metropolitan Opera Competition, and the recipient of an artistic grant from the Kansas Cultural Trust. She recorded On a Seasonal Note for the American Lupus Foundation/ Crane Records and was featured as the mezzo soloist in “A Joyous Christmas Concert with Sylvia McNair”.  In the summer of 2004 she sang in the IBLA Grand Prize competition in Ragusa-Ibla, Sicily, where she received an honorable mention for her work.

Last season she performed in Handel's Messiah with Julian Wachner and Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Clarion Music Society.  (read full reviews at nytimes.com and  bachtrack.com)  Other recent performances include the Rachmaninoff Vespers, Bach’s B Minor Mass (Trinity Wall Street), and  Rosalia (West Side Story Concert Suites) with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, and her Avery FIsher Hall debut (Cherubino in Mozart's Vienna).  Most recently, she was seen as Kate in Pirates of Penzance (Opera Columbus), as the mezzo soloist in Elijah (Berkshire Choral Festival) and Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Trinity Wall Street) , and as Mrs. Noye in Noye's Fludde (Trinity Wall Street).