ABOUT

Guyanese-American soprano Shawnette Sulker has been acclaimed for her “heart-breaking poignancy” and “beautifully tuned soprano” by the San Francisco Chronicle and for her “enchanting vocal splendor” by the Leipziger Volkszeitung. Also described as a singer “…displaying a bright, superbly controlled soprano with perfectly placed coloratura” (The San Francisco Chronicle), she is sought after both in the US and abroad. A consummate performer, she has been a featured artist at San Francisco Opera in their production of Porgy and Bess. Her recently sung roles include Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) with both Intermountain Opera Bozeman and West Edge Opera, Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte) with Santa Rosa Symphony, and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) with West Edge Opera.

Ms. Sulker is as equally at home performing standard repertoire as she is in newer works. She had the distinction of creating the leading role of Mary Jane Bowser in Houston Grand Opera’s workshop of Jake Heggie’s latest opera Intelligence. Additional new music performance highlights in 2023 included creating the role of Ariel in Allen Shearer’s Prospero’s Island, performing Princess Dora in Lori Laitman’s The Three Feathers, and singing Sparrow in Okoye’s Tales from the Briar Patch. Further new music credits include creating the role of Corina in the world-premiere of David Conte’s opera Firebird Motel. The original cast recording can be found on the Arsis label. She has also sung in the American premieres of the following operas: Adam Gorb’s Anya17 in the role of Mila, Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness in the role of River Woman, Fabrizio Carlone’s Bonjour M. Gauguin as La Voix Intérieure, and Zenobia Powell Perry’s Tawawa House as Fanny.

A further sampling of Ms. Sulker’s dynamic range of roles includes Sister Rose (Dead Man Walking); Floralba (Messalina by Pallavicino); Pip (Heggie’s Moby Dick); Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos); Cunegonde (Candide); The Visitor (Sankaram’s Formidable); Carolina (Il matrimonio segreto); Musetta (La Bohème); Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro); Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi); Olympia/Giulietta/Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann); Oscar (Un ballo in maschera); Constanze (Abduction from the Seraglio); Clara (Porgy and Bess); Belinda (Dido and Aeneas); Treemonisha (Treemonisha); Madame Silberklang (Der Schauspieldirektor).

On the concert stage, the soprano recently sang a program of operatic favorites at Naple’s Teatro di San Carlo, recitals in New York’s Scorca Hall and at Stanford University, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Peninsula Ballet Theatre, The Majesty of the Spiritual concert at Herbst Theatre and Lincoln Center (honoring the works of living masters R. Carter, J. Hairston, and L. McLin), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Berkeley Symphony. Some of her other concert repertoire includes Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras; Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen; Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate; Handel’s Messiah; Bach’s Coffee Cantata; Scarlatti’s Su le sponde del Tebro; Mozart’s Grand Mass in C minor; Fauré’s Requiem; Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mass in B♭; Bach’s Magnificat and Weihnachts-Oratorium; Pergolesi’s Magnificat; Mahler’s Symphonies No. 4 and No.8. 

Additional International performing credits for Ms. Sulker feature singing Adele throughout the Netherlands and Belgium in a tour of Die Fledermaus, an art song recital at Red Door Studios in Amsterdam, and a series of Christmas concerts at the Ritz-Carlton in Osaka, Japan. She also sang orchestra concerts of both Porgy and Bess highlights and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, performed in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and Prague’s Smetana Hall. The soprano recorded a CD of operatic favorites with New Zealand’s Orchestra Wellington and can be seen and heard in an on-camera operatic appearance in the feature film Jackson, directed by J.F. Lawton.

Some noteworthy companies with which Ms. Sulker has performed include Hawaii Opera Theatre, American Bach Soloists, Internationale Opera Producties, Mark Morris Dance Group, Opera Naples, Eugene Symphony, Union Avenue Opera, Winston-Salem Symphony, Opera Memphis, Opera Idaho, Oakland Symphony, Opera San Jose, Natchez Music Festival, Pacific Opera Project (POP), Garden State Philharmonic, Opera Fairbanks, Opera Modesto, Ars Minerva, Festival Opera, Music in the Mountains, and Mendocino Music Festival to name a few. Her upcoming engagements feature singing in a workshop for the new opera Bulrusher by Nat Stookey as Bulrusher for Cincinnati Opera, Die Königin der Nacht with Livermore Valley Opera, the soprano solo in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Mission Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Parallèle and SF Jazz’s double bill production of Little’s Vinkensport/Karpman’s Balls (as Sir Elton John’s Trainer and Susan B. Anthony, respectively).