PERFORMING
South Australian soprano Miriam Gordon-Stewart gained recognition across four continents for her powerful instrument and dramatic vulnerability, specializing in the repertoire of Wagner and Strauss. Described as “a genuine singer-actress” and “astonishing with a powerful voice which radiates joy”, Gordon-Stewart has performed over 50 leading roles at major opera houses including the Sydney Opera House, Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hannover, Mannheim, Kassel, Châtelet (Paris), Korean National Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. She performed in concert with the Dresden Philharmonic, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Orchestre Nationale du France, Lisbon and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Miriam began her career as a Young Artist at State Opera of South Australia and at Opera Australia, where she went on to become a principal soloist performing roles including Mimi (La Boheme), Leila (The Pearlfishers), Countess (Marriage of Figaro), Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow), Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw). She was a regular soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, performing in Die Walküre, Beethoven 9, Elektra (Sydney Festival) and as Marie in Wozzeck. Miriam joined long-term collaborator Simone Young for Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Orchestra Victoria before relocating to Hamburg State Opera as a principal artist in 2005.
She was with Hamburg State Opera from 2005-2010, performing roles including Countess (Nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Jenufa, Mimi, Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmelites), Freia (Das Rheingold) and Arabella amongst many others. Other career highlights have included Eva in Mannheim and Kassel, Britten’s War Requiem with the Dresden Philharmonic and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Symphonie with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. As Helmwige in Die Walküre, she is featured on multiple commercial recordings, and was the first Australian soprano to perform at the Bayreuth Festival. In 2010, composer Oscar Strasnoy was commissioned by Hamburg to create a new role for Miriam, which resulted in the one act opera Le Bal, and the lead role of Rosine Kampf. Miriam reprised this role at the Présences Festival in Paris in 2011 at The Chatelet.
“The unrelenting intensity—not to mention the impeccably stylish comedy—of Ms. Gordon-Stewart’s performance grabs us from her first storming on stage to her final, self-pitying collapse”. (Operaticus)
As a freelance artist from 2010-2015, Miriam performed Elsa (Lohengrin), Tosca and Leonore (Fidelio) with Stadttheater Kassel, Ellen Orford and Tosca (Stadttheater Bremerhaven), Leonore (Staatstheater Brandenburg), Alice Ford in Falstaff (Korean National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin) Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel (Deutsche Oper, Berlin) and the title role in Suor Angelica in the World Premiere of Sebastien Baumgarten’s Il Trittico at Staattheater Hanover.
“ Miriam Gordon-Stewart delivers a brilliant performance. Her singing is gentle, full of love and hope, and at the same time loud and lamenting, desperate and dramatic.” (Operapoint)
Miriam returned to Opera Australia as Sieglinde in the new Ring Cycle in 2013, for which she received a Helpmann Award Nomination.
In 2015, Gordon-Stewart co-founded Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, VA where she serves as Artistic & Executive Director. At VHO, she made roles debuts as The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Isolde in Tristan und Isolde. She made her debut as Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring Cycle in Toronto and Belleville in a co-production between Opera By Request and Berlin Wagner Gruppe.
Miriam has been welcomed back to State Opera South Australia as Leonore (Fidelio) and Desdemona (Otello). She recently appeared in Melbourne as soprano soloist for Verdi’s Requiem with the Melbourne Bach Choir, and was nominated as a finalist for the Australian Women in Music Awards for "Classical Excellence". Other Australian performances have included Girls Night Out Strauss Gala with Simone Young and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Korngold and Jankowski concert programs at Coriole Music Festival, the World Premiere of Calvin Bowman’s Over the Brow of the Hill at the Adelaide Festival and Mahler 8 in Brisbane.
DIRECTING
In 2015, Gordon-Stewart co-founded Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, VA where she serves as Artistic Director.
At VHO, Miriam developed a new staging methodology, Motif, designed specifically for opera singers.
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As resident director of VHO's performing Troupe, she directed new productions of Hansel and Gretel, The Medium, Haydn's Armida and Rameau's Achante et Céphise.
Miriam wrote the libretto for Fat Pig, a new opera by Matt Boehler, based on Neil LaBute's play. She directed UNSUNG, a full-length documentary film for Victory Hall Opera, (a finalist in the SF3 Film Festival in Sydney)
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Gordon-Stewart directed both the stage and film World Premiere of Fat Pig. She also released her second documentary film, Top Job, an examination of the reasons for gender inequality in Australian opera leadership featuring 5 of Australia's most prominent arts leaders.
Gordon-Stewart broke new ground with the creation of Orpheus & Erica , a Deaf Opera. She wrote new text for Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, performed in ASL by some of America's foremost Deaf actors alongside opera singers from The Met, La Scala et al. and co-directed the opera with Alek Lev. This new genre drew audiences from across the US to the World Premiere season at the University of Virginia, and was released on film.
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Gordon-Stewart spearheaded the immersive concert/ quarry installation Soundflight, which gained national attention and sold-out three consecutive seasons almost immediately. She led the project Monticello Overheard, the first ever theatrical performance inside the UNESCO listed former home of Thomas Jefferson.
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Most recently, Miriam directed her third documentary film, YAPs, following 5 young opera singers through the course of a year of lessons, competitions and auditions as they dream of a performing career in an increasingly competitive industry. YAPs was selected for Film Festivals including Albuquerque Film and Music Experience and the Workers Unite! Film Festival in NYC.
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She brought together Fana Tesfagiorgis (Alvin Ailey) with jazz pianist Adrianne Duncan and star tenor Victor Ryan Robertson for a staging of out-of-print spirituals in Gullah Meditations.
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Miriam's work has been described as "Staking new ground and pushing the envelope..." (Anne Midgette, The Washington Post) and "Poignant and intimate..(Thomas Floyd, The Washington Post)
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She returns regularly to Australia, training young artists at Opera Australia, State Opera of SA and Elder Conservatorium, and is a guest lecturer in arts entrepreneurship and creative practice at CCM, UVA, Middlebury College, VT and M Institute for the Arts.
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Miriam maintains a private vocal studio. Her students have gone on to perform at the highest levels internationally.
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