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The vocal skills of the American soprano, Ava M. Pine (Ava Mason), were recognized in high school, and she earned an academic scholarship to Texas Christian University (TCU). The scholarship and intimate campus appealed to her, but there was another reason she chose TCU - Ron Shirey, the longtime director of choral activities. While she loved studying vocal music, she also wanted a broader-based education, so she switched to a bachelor of arts in music major and opted for a minor in theatre.
Ava Pine first appeared with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2007 singing the Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, and has returned for performances of George Frideric Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, and multiple seasons of Christmas Pops concerts, which she holds as some of her most joyous musical experiences. Her big break came in 2008 when she was cast as The Angel in Fort Worth Opera’s staging of Péter Eötvös' Angels in America, a part that requires hitting high notes in dog whistle range while being suspended in mid-air. She has enjoyed a rich and varied career on both concert and operatic stages, dazzling audience and critics alike with her rewarding vocalism and commitment to character.
Ava Pine has continued to dazzle audiences and critics with her rewarding vocalism and compelling commitment to character, creating vivid and captivating portraits on stage. Equally at home with opera, oratorio or recital, and accomplished in works ranging from Baroque to contemporary, she has brought great vocal and dramatic range to her work, as Opera News writes: “Ava Pine…all but stole the show. By turns seductive, determined, wounded and moved, she sailed sweetly through a vast range of pitches.”
Recognized for her commitment to contemporary opera, Ava Pine made her European debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as The Angel in the UK premiere of Angels in America (May-June 2008), a role she first debuted with Fort Worth Opera. She spent two seasons with the Dallas Opera as the company’s first young artist in residence, and enjoys a strong relationship with the company, performing Juliette in matinees of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Adele in Die Fledermaus (December 2008), Elvira in L’italiana in Algeri (March 2009), Lady in Waiting in Macbeth (November 2007), Zozo in The Merry Widow (December 2007), and Yvette in La rondine (February 2007).
2008-2010 seasons included performances of Adina in L’elisir d’amore with the Arizona Opera (January 2009) and the Fort Worth Opera (May-June 2010), Norina in Don Pasquale with Opera New Jersey (July-August 2010), as well as Josephine for Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s H.M.S. Pinafore (November 2009) and Pamina in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for Florentine Opera (April 2009). She also sang Serpina in Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La serva padrona with the Vestfold Festspillene Festival in Norway. As a Wolf Trap Opera Filene Young Artist, she collaborated on a recital with Steven Blier (June 2009), and performed as Morgana in G.F. Handel's Alcina (July 2008), Musetta in La bohème (August 2009), and Minerva in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (July 2009). With Chautauqua Opera, she performed Sophie in Werther (August 2007) and Frasquita in Georges Bizet's Carmen. (July 2007).
Ava Pine debuted with Opera Colorado, singing her first Susanna in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (February 2012), returned to Dallas Opera for Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (April-May 2012), and to Fort Worth Opera for a role debut as Lysia in Adamo’s Lysistrata (May-June 2012). She also returned to Florentine Opera as Blanca in the world premiere of Davis’s Rio de Sangre (October 2010), the Fort Worth Opera for Cleopatra in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare (May-June 2011), and debuted with Michigan Opera Theater as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (April 2011)
Ava Pine's engagements during the 2012-2013 season include returns to Opera Colorado for Juliette in Roméo et Juliette (February 2013) and to Fort Worth Opera for Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment (April-May 2013). On the concert stage, she performed G.F. Handel's Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony (December 2012), a recital of Viennese operetta for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra New Year’s Eve celebration, a Baroque recital and recording with the Dallas Bach Society, and solo recitals in her hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas and as a guest artist with Texas Wesleyan University.
Ava Pine was a Grammy nominee (Best Opera Recording 2011) for her work in a period instrument recording with Ars Lyrica Houston, singing Cleopatra in Johann Adolf Hasse's Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra (December 2009). A frequent collaborator with early music ensembles, she has performed with Boston Baroque in semistaged productions of Xerxes, singing Romilda (October 2008), and Amadigi di Gaula, singing Melissa (October 2009). Other performances include the title role in G.F. Handel’s Theodora with UNT Baroque Collegium (February 2012); Bellezza in G.F. Handel's Il trionfo del tempo (May 2009) and Angelo in G.F. Handel's La resurrezione with Ars Lyrica Houston.
Equally gifted in both Baroque style and contemporary expression, Ava made both genres the foundation of her operatic career, with notable roles including Anna Sørenson in Silent Night with Fort Worth Opera (May 2014) and Atlanta Opera (November 2016), Cleopatra in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare with Fort Worth Opera and Florentine Opera (March 2014), the Young Girl in the world premiere of After Life with Music of Remembrance and Urban Arias, and lesser known G.F. Handel roles with Boston Baroque. Her most recent collaboration with the group, performing Iphis in Jephtha (March 2019), was hailed by the Boston Globe for “gorgeous lyricism and silvered ornaments,” making “the whole show worth seeing.”
Highlights from the concert stage include frequent re-engagements with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for W.A. Mozart's Requiem (April 2009) and Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2, with Jaap van Zweden, as well as G.F. Handel's Messiah, J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232 (March 2007), Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Nielsen Symphony No. 3, and a series of holiday pops concerts. With her alma mater, Texas Christian University, she has performed Johannes Brahmss' Requiem (November 2010) and Carmina Burana (February 2009). She also performed the latter with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as a program of J.S. Bach's cantatas (October 2011). With the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, she performed rare South American Baroque works (August 2010), and with the Austin Symphony performed the contemporary work Ode to Common Things, by Ratcliff.
In 2017 Ava Pine left singing as a full-time career and now balances musical performances with her work as a bone marrow transplant nurse foNew York-Presbyterian Hospital. She bcame licensed Registered Nurse in the State of New York after studies at Columbia University (2017-2018). Since May 2021, she works as Oncology Research Nurse at Columbia University. She is also a membrer Choir of St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village. She currently lives in New York City, New York. |
