MADAME BUTTERFLY CAST BIOS

ALEXANDRA LOUTSION, Cio-Cio-San

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a "promising young soprano", Alexandra Loutsion has been recognized for her vocal versatility and passionate performances. In the 2011-2012 season, she will sing Mother and Witch/Hansel and Gretel and Annina/La Traviata as a second year Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera. She will also make her debut
with the Boston Court Performing Arts Center as Euridice in Ricky Ian Gordon's Orpheus and Euridice, and with the Erie Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Ms. Loutsion made her Pittsburgh Opera debut in 2010 as Berta/Il Barbiere di Siviglia and was a "powerful and projecting" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Armida in Handel's Rinaldo. She spent the 2010 and 2011 summer seasons as an Apprentice Artist with the Central City Opera, performing Cio-Cio San in the Family Performance of Madama
Butterfly and Melissa in the Family Performance of Handel's Amadigi di Gaula. Her
mainstage credits with the company include Frasquita/Carmen, La Dame Elegante/Les
Mamelles de Tirésias, and Minerva/Orpheus in the Underworld. Other past
performances include Donna Anna/Don Giovanni, Anna Glawari/The Merry Widow,
Second Woman/The Dido Project with Sybarite 5, and Sie/Hartmann's Wachsfiguren
Kabinett with the Aspen Music Festival. She has also been featured in two West Coast
premieres: as Fay Doyle in Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts, and as Isabella in
Wagner's Das Liebesverbot, which was a featured production of the Ring Festival LA.
On the concert stage, Ms. Loutsion had the honor of singing for His All Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Athenagoras Human Rights Award Weekend
Celebration in New York City. She was invited to sing Mahler's Symphony #4 with the
Aspen Conductor's Project and Grieg's Peer Gynt with the Aspen Sinfonia, and has
been a guest soloist with the Children's Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh.

Ms. Loutsion is an advocate for living composers and contemporary classical music,
having performed both opera and concert premieres. Recent performances include
Witch 3/The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth with VeraIkon productions, Alma
Winemiller in Hoiby's Summer and Smoke, and Isaac Shankler's Sharp, all performed in
Los Angeles.

Ms. Loutsion is a 2009 District Winner of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions
and the 2009 Winner of the Long Beach Mozart Competition. She is a recipient of the
2011 Shoshana Foundation Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the 2010 Central City Opera
John Moriarty Award, and the 2008 Aspen Music Festival New Horizon Fellowship. She
holds music degrees from the University of Southern California and Ithaca College.