“rawly sensual, dry, whiskey-toned voice”
-San Francisco Classical Voice
"Simmons’ deep, evenly produced mezzo and theatrical magnetism dominated the stage"
— South Florida Classical Review
ABOUT MARISSA
Originally from Chicago, Marissa Simmons is a contralto, noted for her “rawly sensual, wry, whiskey-toned voice” (San Francisco Classical Voice), and “deep, evenly produced mezzo and theatrical magnetism” (South Florida Classical Review). She is also distinguished by her “comic precision” (San Francisco Examiner) and praised as “una formidable” (Especial/El Nuevo Herald).
Simmons’ has performed a variety of roles including La Zia Principessa, La Zelatrice, & La Maestra delle Novizie (Suor Angelica), Miss Todd (Old Maid and the Thief), Carmen (La tragédie de Carmen), Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti), Margret (Wozzek), Prudence (Dust of the Road), Mother (I will fly like a bird), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Nerone & Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Iolanthe (Iolanthe), Maria Callas (Jackie O), Roane Heckle (Great Scott), and more.(Especial/El Nuevo Herald).
Simmons has sung with many prestigious companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Music Academy of the West, Miami Lyric Opera, Thompson Street Opera Company, Evanston Chamber Opera, the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, and more.(Especial/El Nuevo Herald).
Simmons earned a Master of Music under Catherine Cook at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music in both Classical Voice Performance and Music Theory/Composition from the University of Miami Frost School of Music under Dr. Esther Jane Hardenbergh and Dr. Lansing McLoskey.
COMPOSITION & NEW MUSIC
Not only is she an opera singer, but Simmons is also a composer. Simmons studied music theory and composition at the Frost School of Music under Dr. Lansing McLoskey. She is known for her diverse compositional portfolio and unique compositional voice. She has taken inspiration from great composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Jake Heggie, and Edward Grieg. She conducted the world premiere of one of her orchestral compositions in Austria at age 15. As an active performer and composer, Simmons loves to collaborate on new works. She is passionate about bringing new music to the stage and making it more accessible. After all, even Mozart’s music was once “new music.” Most recently, Paradox Opera premiered Marissa’s newly commissioned composition, “An Open Letter to Samuel Alito: Lament of the Choiceless” as part of their production, Autonomy, in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.