Anne Kopta

Anne Elgar Kopta, soprano and associate professor of music in voice, comes to the ASU Herberger Institute's School of Music with a distinguished record of performing and teaching that spans the world of Broadway and opera, and that of teaching at major universities and at summer music schools both here and abroad.

As a principal artist singing under the stage name of Anne Elgar, she regularly appeared in leading roles with the New York City Opera and the opera companies of San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Wichita.

Her credits include Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, Mimi in La Boheme, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Rosina in Barber of Seville, Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Abigail in The Crucible, and Sister Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, among many others. She created the role of Margret in the world premier of Lizzie Borden by Jack Beeson, a work commissioned by the New York City Opera. The original cast album released on Desto Records has been reissued on CDs by Composers Recordings, Inc./CRI.

The original television production of “Lizzie Borden” by WNET Opera, featuring the world premier cast and conductor, has been reissued on DVD in 2013 by Video Artists International, Inc. The New York Times praised this work as “a compelling piece of musical theatre…. Unquestionably worth seeing,” and Opera News gave it a glowing review, including Anne Elgar’s performance of the role of Margret. Miss Anne Elgar has also recorded opera by Rossini and Meyerbeer on the Vanguard (reissued on CDs) and the HRE labels.

As a soloist, she appeared frequently with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony conducted by Eric Leinsdorf, with whom she sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and the world premier of Roger Sessions’ Psalm 140 in the orchestral setting commissioned by Maestro Leinsdorf. Other major orchestras that engaged her include the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony. Miss Elgar’s international appearances include performing with the Montreal Symphony, the Orchestra of Mexico City, the National Theater of Croatia and the Orchestra of The Hague, Holland.

Under the sponsorship of Columbia Artists’ Community Concerts Series, she was a popular recitalist. There were also many guest appearances at Tanglewood, Chautauqua, Caramoor, Newport, Saratoga and other summer music festivals. At the beginning of her career, she won the Metropolitan Opera Guild Scholarship and sang with the Metropolitan Opera Studio in New York and on national tours. Prior to her operatic career, she was in the original Broadway cast of The Sound of Music.

In the academic setting, Professor Kopta, a native of Kansas, brings her knowledge of vocal technique and her performing experience to her studio teaching.

For more than 30 years, she has taught at major universities during the academic year and devoted the other months to summer music schools in Austria, Italy, Israel, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Formerly, Professor Kopta was a regular faculty member of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and has worked with the Tyrolean Opera Program, a summer music program in Maurach, Austria.

Her master classes at Mexico’s National Conservatory of Music were an annual event for 16 years and have resulted in special appreciation of ASU’s School of Music among students and faculty there.

Since 2010, Professor Kopta has joined the faculty of the “German Opera Experience” Summer Music Program in Freiberg, Germany, sponsored by James Madison University of Virginia, and held every May-July in conjunction with the Middlesaxony Opera Company. She is the voice teacher for the group of students from American universities, including ASU. 

Among Professor Kopta’s top priorities today is the career development of her students, as evidenced by the many who have become successful performers in opera and musical theater, dedicated teachers at colleges and conservatories, and creative administrators in arts-related fields. 

Some of the opera and musical theater companies, summer festivals, and orchestras with which her former students have performed include: the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, New York; Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; the Pittsburgh Opera; the San Diego Opera and the Lyric Opera San Diego; Arizona Opera; Ashville Lyric Opera and South Carolina Opera; Compania Nacional de Opera de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; Compania Nacional de Guadalajara, Mexico; Opernhaus Zürich, Switzerland; Bielefelder Stadttheater, Germany; and Landestheater Linz, Austria. 

Recent performances in Germany include singing at the Mittelsächsisches Theater, Freiberg, and at the Seebühne Kriebstein; the Landesbühnen Sachsen, and at the Felsenbühne Rathen. Students were cast in opera and musical theater roles with the opera companies, including “The Magic Flute,” “Suor Angelica,” “The Maid of Orleans,” “Im Weissen Rössl,” “Zigeunerbaron,” and “Vogelhändler,” among others. An alumna of both ASU and the JMU Summer Music Pprogram was contracted to perform the starring role of Carmen in “Fame-Das Musical,” given in German in conjunction with the Landesbühnen Sachsen, Radebeul. Following the run of that musical, she had roles in “Cinderella” and “Hunchback of Notre Dame.” 

Musical theater productions in the U.S. and Canada include: Mary Poppins; premier of the Broadway musical Rent, National Touring Company; the Broadway productions of Les Miserables, Grease, and Fiddler on the Roof; Show Boat, Hal Prince’s productions in Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver, B.C.; Phantom of the Opera, the touring company, and the San Francisco production; Annie and Mame, Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh; Beauty and the Beast, touring company, Disney Productions; and the Broadway productions of “Cinderella,” “First Wives Club,” and “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark.” 

Summer festivals include: Wolf Trap Company, Vienna, Virginia; Saratoga Performing Arts Festival; Spoletto Festival USA; Steamboat Springs Festival; and Zadar Music Festival, Croatia. Appearances with orchestras include: the Boston Pops, Morgantown Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall, New York. Some of the young artist programs in which her students have participated include those of the Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Los Angeles Opera, St. Louis Opera, Miami Opera, Pittsburgh Opera Center, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe, Central City, Vienna State Opera, Austria, and Zurich Opera, Switzerland.