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The American male soprano, Elijah McCormack, came from a musical family, and started singing in choirs during his second grade and joined the treble choir at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fairfield. Spending about a decade there, he credits this experience for shaping his musical skills and the unique quality of his voice, influenced by the distinctive Anglican-style treble choir sound. He completed his Bachelor's degree at Skidmore College in 2016, where he studied with Sylvia Stoner-Hawkins and made his role debut as Arsamenes in George Frideric Handel's Serse. Although he studied music during his entire undergraduate career, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Studio Art with a concentration in painting, which he still puts to use, taking pet portraits commissions and instructing at paint bars when time allows. He continues to regularly work with church choirs and other vocal ensembles, especially enjoying Tudor music and other early modern polyphonic works. He obtained his Master of Music degree in Historical Performance Voice from Indiana University's Historical Performance Institute (2019). During his time there, he appeared in Indiana University Opera Theater's G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare (Tolomeo), as a soprano soloist in the HPI's performance of J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 directed by John Butt, and as the Dewman in IU Opera's Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. He studied with Steven Rickards.
In 2024, McCormack was the first place winner and audience favorite of the 11th Handel Aria Competition. In 2023, he received the Meyerson/Zwanger Award for 2nd place in the Oratorio Society of New York’s Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition. He was a finalist for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Linn Maxwell Keller Bach Award in 2022, and a semifinalist in Le Poème Harmonique’s Corneille Competition in 2019. He has also won two Judges’ Encouragement Awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and one from the Heida Hermanns International Voice Competition.
Elijah McCormack has garnered praise for his “pristine clarity” (Artburst Miami) and “cool control and warmth of tone” (Washington Post). A versatile singer, he specializes primarily in early music, with frequent forays into new music. He performs as a soprano soloist and ensemble member with organizations such as Seraphic Fire (Director: Patrick Dupré Quigley), The Crossing, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Washington Bach Consort (Director: J. Reilly Lewis), American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Ensemble Altera, Dallas Bach Society (Director: James Richman), Ars Lyrica Houston, Harmonia Stellarum Houston, Experiential Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, ChamberQUEER, and ANIMA Early Music. He has performed as a soloist in major works such as J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245, Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248, and Mass in B minor BWV 232, as well as W.A. Mozart's Requiem, G.F. Handel's Messiah, Arvo Pärt's Passio, Dietrich Buxtehude's Jesu Membra Nostri, Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, and others. He is featured as a soloist on two Ensemble Altera albums, The Lamb’s Journey and Feminine Voices at Christmas. In 2023, he made his European debut as the soprano soloist in J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany. A lifelong lover of opera as well as concert works, his opera credits include Telemachus in The Return of Ulysses with IN Series, Amore and Valletto in Haymarket Opera Company’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Miles in IlluminArts Miami’s B. Britten's The Turn of the Screw, and Tolomeo in Indiana University Opera Theater’s G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare. As a transgender singer, he also premiered the gender-expansive role of Bell* Cohen in Benjamin P. Wenzelberg’s NIGHTTOWN with Lowell House Opera. He has been featured as a young artist at the Boston Early Music Festival and the American Bach Soloists Academy. |
