Dr. Gretchen Windt
Contact InformationVoice/Diction/Pedagogy Faculty
Originally from Chicago, mezzo soprano Gretchen Windt channels her strong presence, engaging personality, and expressive musicality into performances in genres ranging from opera and operetta to symphonic repertoire, art song recitals, and musical theater. She has completed Young Artist and Apprentice Artist programs with companies including Sarasota Opera, Utah Symphony & Opera, Sugar Creek Symphony and Song Festival in Illinois, and the Ohio Light Opera. She has returned for subsequent engagements with several of these companies; most notably performing leading roles in operettas and musicals as a Resident Professional Artist with the Ohio Light Opera for four seasons. She performed regularly with Cincinnati Opera; highlights include mainstage performances of Golijov’s Ainadamar (Voice of the Fountain), the world premiere of Hailstork’s Rise For Freedom, and a touring production of The Magic Flute. She has also performed with Opera Birmingham, Opera Huntsville, Opera Southwest, Chesapeake Chamber Opera, Opera Idaho, and regional Chicago companies including Bowen Park Opera, OperaModa, and DuPage Opera Theatre. Internationally, she performed the title role in La Cenerentola in Italy with La Musica Lirica.
She has performed and covered roles including Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), both Third Lady and Papagena (The Magic Flute), Mercedes (Carmen), Meg Page (Falstaff), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), Jo (Adamo’s Little Women), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and the title roles in Massenet’s Cendrillon and Offenbach's La Périchole. Solo concert credits include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Faure’s Requiem, and Bach’s Magnificat. Most recently, she performed with Opera Birmingham and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater in “Opera Unveiled”: a gala concert featuring opera’s greatest hits. She also performed Jake Heggie’s Iconic Legacies at the Orion Amphitheater for the Huntsville Women In Music Week Finale with Opera Huntsville.
Equally passionate about teaching, she is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Vocal Studies at the University of North Alabama. She has been invited to present and perform at numerous conferences, conventions, and festivals including National NATS Conferences, the SERNATS (Southeastern Region NATS) Scholar and Artist Series, the Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for Women, the Darkwater Festival at UNC—Pembroke, the Sam Houston State University Art Song Festival, Alabama Music Educators Association Conference, and Iowa Choral Directors Association Summer Symposium. She was invited to participate in the Summer Voice Institute at Northwestern University with W. Stephen Smith. She is an active member of NATS currently serving as the Education Chair for the Alabama State Chapter, she was selected to participate in the prestigious NATS Intern Program in 2020, and her students regularly place in state, regional, and national NATS Student Auditions. Her students have gone on to graduate and post-graduate studies at University of Colorado Boulder, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Temple University, and University of Alabama. They have performed with College Light Opera Company, Red River Lyric Opera, Harrower Summer Opera Workshop, Seagle Festival, and more. She graduated from the University of Utah with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice. In addition, she completed degrees at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (M.M. in voice/opera) and North Park University (B.M.E. in music education/voice) in Chicago, IL. Currently based in Florence, Alabama, when she isn’t performing or teaching, she gets to immerse herself in Southern dialect and cuisine. For more information: www.gretchenwindt.com