A native New Yorker, Mezzo soprano Rebekah Diaz is very happy to call Miami her new home. While recently completing her Master's degree in opera from Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Diaz was busy holding a selective private voice studio and serving as music and chorus teacher at Our Lady of the Assumption, where she also performed as primary cantor. During the summer months, Ms. Diaz served as Summer Voice Faculty at Manhattan School of Music where she taught acting, voice, and music theory. She also made it a priority to offer her services to the Manhattan School of Music Outreach Department which afforded her the opportunity to bring classical music to inner city youths by teaching chorus and music throughout the New York metropolitan area.
A Ballroom dance enthusiast, Ms. Diaz has been asked to choreograph dance scenes in operas and to aid in teaching dance to conservatory students. She has conducted various master classes in performance and vocal technique and is requested often to coach choruses and soloists for competitions, auditions, and performances.
Ms. Diaz is honored to have performed as a soloist on The Clippership Cruise Line, and with The Pittsburgh Opera Theater, the Pittsburgh Ballet, The Mendelssohn Choir, The Bronx Opera, and The Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. She has performed in several operatic productions with Manhattan School of Music and has performed lead roles in musical theater and opera productions while earning a BFA in voice from Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. Diaz had the distinctive honor of going on tour with the Carnegie Mellon Concert Choir to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago under the direction of Grammy Award winning director, Robert Page. While at Carnegie Mellon, she had the distinct honor and pleasure of attaining further instruction from Dr. Page in his capacity as her coach and musical director of several operas.
She has studied classical voice with MSM voice department chair, Maitland Peters. While at Carnegie Mellon, she studied under the late international mezzo-soprano, Mimi Lerner. She also studied jazz and musical theatre with Betsy Lawrence and Thomas Douglas, and acting with Rhonda Levine and Greg Lehane.
Recently, Ms. Diaz gave a riveting performance in New York, where she performed selections from the lesser known Hispanic Classical repertoire, which is a specialty of hers. She is a member and supporter of the New York based group "Alma", whose purpose is to expose the public to this little known genre of Classical Spanish and Latin American repertoire. She is excited to take part in Sarasota Opera's young artist program this year, and is contracted for a performance of Lost in the Stars with the Pittsburgh Opera Theater.
While Ms. Diaz is engaged to perform quite often, she holds a very special place in her heart for the teaching of voice and looks forward to a life divided between these two rewarding fields.
