Samantha Hankey
mezzo-soprano
Praised for her “dusky focus and hypnotic allure”
The Times
Shining brightly when faced with a complex character, Samantha Hankey has been praised by The Times for a voice of “dusky focus and hypnotic allure.” The 2023-2024 season sparkled with debuts at London's Royal Opera House, singing the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte; at Detroit Opera, in the role of the Fox in Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen; and in a role debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She returned to Opernhaus Zürich for director Kirill Serebrennikov’s revival of Così fan tutte, where she sang the role of Dorabella; performed as a featured soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and appeared in recitals at Antwerp LiedFest and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Recent seasons saw Hankey as Federico García Lorca in Golijov’s Ainadamar at Scottish Opera, a house debut at Chicago Lyric Opera as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, a role and house debut as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande at Santa Fe Opera, a Carnegie Hall recital debut in Weill Recital Hall, and her return to the Metropolitan Opera as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (broadcast Live in HD).
From 2019-2021, Hankey held a Fest contract at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she made notable appearances in leading roles. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2017, performing a myriad of named roles in a single season alongside guest contracts at Opernhaus Zürich, Den Norske Opera, The Dallas Opera, and Grand Théâtre de Genève. On the concert stage, she has performed at the Bard Festival, Carnegie Hall, the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro in Finland, in solo recital at Wigmore Hall and in New York City at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hankey co-developed the lead roles in David Herzberg’s The Rose Elf and The Wake World, to great critical success. She has also premiered new works with Opera Philadelphia and The Metropolitan Opera.
Samantha Hankey’s career includes awards in a vast number of national and international competitions. In 2018 she won both the First Prize and the Media Prize at the Inaugural Glyndebourne Cup, multiple prizes at the Operalia Competition, and a Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. She was a 2017 Grand Finals Winner by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, First Prize recipient in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and received a Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship in the foundation’s final year.
Hankey is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. A native of Massachusetts, she embraced her passion for music from an early age and pursued pre-college vocal training at the Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory.