Pamela Dellal, mezzo-soprano, has been praised for her "exquisite vocal color," "musical sensitivity," and "eloquent phrasing." She made her Lincoln Center debut under world-renowned conductor William Christie, singing Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society at Avery Fisher Hall. She has also sung with Seiji Ozawa, Christopher Hogwood, Grant Llewellen, Paul McCreesh, Bernard Labadie and Roger Norrington. Other ensembles which have presented Ms. Dellal include the Tokyo Oratorio Society, the Lydian String Quartet, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Boston Baroque, the Boston Early Music Festival, Aston Magna, the Dallas Bach Society, The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Dellal has received critical acclaim for performances of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, Handel's Messiah, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and the C-minor Mass, and Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions. Her operatic roles include Sesto in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Dorabella in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, Bradamante in Alcina, Erika in Barber’s Vanessa and Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She has been a featured artist with the The Red House Opera Group, Prism Opera Company, Opera Aperta, Ocean State Lyric Opera, the New Boston Theatre Project, and the Opera Company of Boston, and has appeared in concert in major cities in Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan.

Ms. Dellal’s repertoire encompasses an astounding range: from twelfth-century monody, through Renaissance solo and ensemble music, Baroque cantatas and oratorios, 18th-21st century art songs, chamber music, and opera. As a member and Acting Director of Sequentia's women's ensemble Vox Feminae, Ms. Dellal has toured three continents and made numerous recordings of the music of Hildegard von Bingen. Ms. Dellal is a founding member of Favella Lyrica, a frequent guest artist with Ensemble Chaconne, the Musicians of the Old Post Road, and a current member of the Blue Heron Renaissance Choir. She has been alto soloist in the renowned Bach Cantata series presented by Emmanuel Music since 1984, having performed nearly all 200 of Bach’s sacred cantatas. A noted recitalist, she has been featured in concert performances throughout the Northeast US, including multiple appearances on the Boston Celebrity Series. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, she is a regular guest with the Boston ensembles Dinosaur Annex, and Boston Musica Viva, and has also appeared with the Lumen Ensemble and Collage, performing works by contemporary composers such as Martin Boykan, Martin Brody, Edward Cohen, Ruth Lomon, Shulamit Ran, Fabio Vacchi, Judith Shatin, Judith Weir, Scott Wheeler, and others. She has recorded for Arabesque Records, Artona, BMG, CRI, Dorian, Meridian, and KOCH International Classics.

Highlights of Ms. Dellal’s upcoming season include Perera’s Three Poems of Günter Grass with Boston Music Viva, Baroque opera with the Boston Early Music Festival ensemble, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Worcester Chorus and Emmanuel Music, and music from Shakespearean plays on tour in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Indiana. She will sing the premiere of a new John Harbison work, The Seven Ages, with the New York New Music Ensemble at Merkin Concert Hall this coming April. (see Discography).

As an educator, Ms. Dellal has served on the faculty of the Berkshire Choral Festival, is Voice Instructor at Brandeis University, and teaches diction classes at the Boston Conservatory. She has also served as faculty at several summer festivals, including Pinewoods Early Music Week and World Fellowship Early Music Week, as well as the VdGSA Conclave. She has been invited to give master classes and lecture/demonstrations at many institutions throughout the US, including The North Carolina NATS conference, Stanford University, Cal. State Fullerton, SUNY New Paltz, the Longy School of Music, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and other organizations. She is a recognized specialist in early vocal techniques and the music of Hildegard von Bingen; in addition, she has become a sought-after translator of musical texts including the Bach cantatas, translations of which appear on the Emmanuel Music website.

in Oratorio...

Bach: St. Matthew Passion - Back Bay Chorale

"But it was mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal who conveyed listeners to the sublime heights. Partnered by ...violinist Danielle Maddon, the two performed "Erbarme dich" as if it were the last music anyone would hear on this earth. After that, one could happily shuffle off this mortal coil." – Ellen Pfeifer, The Boston Globe

Handel: Messiah - Handel and Haydn Society

"[Dellal] sang with absolute musical assurance, alovely quite glow on her tone, and dramatic intelligence that reminded us that Handel composed some of this music for one of the greatest actresses of his age. Dellal's "He was Despised" became the emotional center of the performance." – Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

Bach: St. John Passion - Worcester Bach Society

"...Miss Dellal had to be ranked first among the soloists. Her exquisite vocal color was matched by musical sensitivity... Miss Dellal's aria in response was deeply felt, and the second half of it... contrasted brilliantly with the first. It all led up to a final "It is finished" that was utterly pathetic in its matter-of-factness." – William MacPherson, The Worcester Telegram

Bach: B-minor Mass - Masterworks Chorus (Montgomery Cnty, Md)

"mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal...was lushly fluid". – Jeanne Speath, The Washington Post

Bach: G-minor Mass - Handel and Haydn Society

"alto Pamela Dellal handled her "Domini Fili unigenite" solo and its lung-taxing two- and three-word phrases with aplomb."
– Gordon Sparber, Winston-Salem Journal Arts

Vivaldi: Gloria - Handel and Haydn Society

"Energy levels shot up whenever mezzo soloist Pamela Dellal took stage...[she] showed us what baroque expressive gesture can be, and what richly impassioned singing is." – Susan Larson, The Boston Globe

in Opera...

Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum - Sequentia

"The task for the singers...is to have [the music] well up out of their bodies, whole. Pamela Dellal as the Soul...excels at this...Go to hear [her]." – Paul Griffiths, The New York Times

"...the main character of the story...beautifully realized in voice and body by Pamela Dellal..."
– Ursula Andkjær, Berlingske Tidende (Copenhagen)

"...sung admirably by Pamela Dellal..." – Barry Millington, The Times (London)

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas - MIT Opera Society

"Pamela Dellal's Dido boasted some gleaming vocal colors and firm, steady tone, a sure sense of dramatic portrayal and faultless musicianship. Of the great aria 'When I am laid in earth,' which was provided with a light but telling ornamentation, she provided an account that was blessedly first-rate, its intelligence and control worthy of comparison with anybody's." – Richard Buell, The Boston Globe

Eichberg: Doctor of Alcantara - Friends of Dr. Burney

"Pamela Dellal, the saucy and voluptuous maid, had a marvelous comedic flair that captivated the audience as completely as the various men in the cast." – Nancy Thayer, The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte - Boston Baroque

"Among the well-blended Three Ladies, the mezzo simpatico Pamela Dellal found a remarkable balance between passionate conviction and comic self-remove." – Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

 

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in Recital...

French Airs de Cour - Boston Early Music Festival Concurrent Event

"Mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal and lutenist Douglas Freundlich gave a fascinating concert of 17th-century French airs de cour for an enthusiastic audience at the [Boston Early Music Festival]. Dellal is a singer whose large voice and abundant wit and tonal color are perfect for this repertoire." – Craig Zeichner, Early Music America

Haydn: Arianna a Naxos, Hindemith: Das Marienleben, et al. - SUNY New Paltz

"Dellal...enchants as if she comes from a Gypsy campfire...[she] create[s] a mass hypnosis among [her] listeners, drawing them beyond idea or explanation into the very experience of an event -- its animating passion."
– Kitty Montgomery, The Kingston Freeman

 

Favella Lyrica - FleetBoston Celebrity Series Emerging Artists

"Dellal has always sung with uncommon intelligence, imagination and textual awareness...her mezzo [is] even and responsive over at least 2 1/2 octaves, unblemished by any break. Yesterday in Jordan Hall, she sounded as if she had reached her absolute prime; more than once, voice and art reminded me of that matchless recitalist of my youth, Jennie Tourel...Purcell's The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation was at once dramatic, richly human and raptly spiritual." – Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

 

Domenico Scarlatti: Cantatas - Longy School of Music

"...an agreeable light mezzo-soprano voice, good technique, assured musicianship, and a lively personality... Dellal was convincing in pathos, irony, and humor, and the precision of her scale work and the gleam in her eye suggest Rossini's minxes may be next: she knows where they're coming from." – Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

Schubert: The Schubert Series - Emmanuel Music

"Dellal sang with warmth and intelligence, especially in an intent, imperturbable performance of "Wehmut [Franz Schubert]."
– Anthony Tommasini, The Boston Globe

"...sung here with all due gravity by Pamela Dellal (arguably the finest of the soloists)..."
Andrew Farach-Colton, Gramophone Magazine

Ruth Lomon Songs of Remembrance - CRI Recordings

"[The mezzo songs] are all assisted enormously by Pamela Dellal's rich, firm singing."
John Story, Fanfare Magazine

Bach St. John Passion - Emmanuel Music - KIC

"Pamela Dellal's movingly expressive "Es ist vollbracht"...[her] solo contribution stands head and shoulders above anything else in the performance." Brian Robins, Fanfare Magazine

Brahms Two Songs for Alto and Viola (Michael Zaretsky)- Artona Records

" Dellal sings sympathetically, with bright, well-rounded tone and a good sense of line...on its own terms...Dellal's performance is far from negligible." Bernard Jacobson, Fanfare Magazine

Bach Christmas Cantatas - Emmanuel Music - KOCH International Classics (KIC)

" Perhaps the most beautiful singing lies in...Pamela Dellal's limber, lustrous, intelligent delivery of the mezzo aria in "In Jesu Demut kann ich Trost." Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

Blind Love, Cruel Beauty: Vocal Duets of G. F. Handel - Favella Lyrica - KIC

" Pamela Murray and Pamela Dellal are both accomplished singers, well able to tackle the divisions cleanly...Dellal, who sings as both soprano and alto, offers a pleasantly full and mellow lower and middle register but also tackles notes above the treble stave surely.” SS, Gramophone Magazine