Biography
Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, dynamic soprano Elizabeth Racheva has been hailed as “a great storyteller” (The Dallas Morning News) offering “bright, well-focused tone, exemplary diction and persuasive acting” (The Baltimore Sun).
The current season is as diverse as ever featuring the world premiere of Andrea Clearfield's Women of Valor Suite for the Women's Sacred Music Project, Holiday Fantastique with Allen Philharmonic in Texas, Once Upon A Time...children's opera for Lyric Fest, and Schubert songs in their original piano settings and the Liszt orchestral transcriptions for the American Liszt Society Festival.
Last season, Elizabeth made her debut with Oregon's Eugene Concert Choir in Mozart's epic Mass in C Minor and returned to Dallas to collaborate with Voices of Change, for Wind Across the Sky in a program of music by Bruce Adolphe. These appearances followed her most exciting debut yet as a new mother.
Other recent appearances include Klärchen with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth’sCliburn at the Modern series debut in concert with composer Jake Heggie, Musetta with Lubbock Symphony, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Charleston Symphony, multiple performances of Kapilow’s Green Eggs and Ham with Fort Worth Symphony, Barbarina with Greensboro Opera Company, Gretel with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and Capitol Opera Raleigh, and pops/holiday programs with the symphonies of Dallas, Eugene, Mid-Atlantic, and the Allen Philharmonic. She has also appeared with Baltimore Opera, Berkshire Opera, Opera Vivente, and The Living Opera in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles for which she has been acclaimed for her “delicious voice” (Classical Voice North Carolina) and outstanding musicianship. Contemporary roles include Laurie Moss (The Tender Land), Masha (The Music Shop), Niece One (Peter Grimes), and the title characters in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and David Shapiro’s The April Witch. Other favorite portrayals include Despina (Così fan tutte), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte).
Elizabeth is a popular recitalist and concert artist for presenters including Trinity Church Concerts at One (NYC), Philadelphia's Lyric Fest, the contemporary ensemble Voices of Change (Dallas), Oregon’s Eugene Concert Choir and Chamber Music Amici, Ohio’s Lancaster Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, Columbia Bach Society (NYC), Baltimore’s Community Concerts at Second series, and The Vienna Project: Vienna in Song at the Clark Art Institute (MA), and the Rising Stars Concert Series in Fairfax, VA with flutist Betsy Garry as the prize winning ensemble Duo Rossignol. From 2007-2010 Ms. Racheva served as artistic director of Voces Intimae, a Dallas art song series. During her tenure, Voces Intimae experienced dramatic audience growth and doubled the size of the board, while garnering critical acclaim for programming and artistry.
Elizabeth was trained as a Resident Artist at Berkshire Opera Company and was engaged as a member of the Baltimore Opera Education Ensemble in three different productions from 2000-2002, performing for schoolchildren throughout the Mid-Atlantic in venues including Wolftrap Theatre-in-the-Woods, Annapolis Opera, and Opera Delaware. She has also trained at the Middlebury College Deutscheschule and the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria, where she specialized in the study of the Lied and had the honor to study Lieder and poetry with such eminent artists as Helmut Deutsch, Elly Ameling, Rudolf Jansen, Wolfgang Holzmair, and Robert Tear. Elizabeth earned a Bachelor of Arts with high honors from Emory University and a Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma, with certificate in opera performance, from Peabody Conservatory. Elizabeth also nurtures a parallel career in arts administration as director of special projects at the Curtis Institute of Music.
The current season is as diverse as ever featuring the world premiere of Andrea Clearfield's Women of Valor Suite for the Women's Sacred Music Project, Holiday Fantastique with Allen Philharmonic in Texas, Once Upon A Time...children's opera for Lyric Fest, and Schubert songs in their original piano settings and the Liszt orchestral transcriptions for the American Liszt Society Festival.
Last season, Elizabeth made her debut with Oregon's Eugene Concert Choir in Mozart's epic Mass in C Minor and returned to Dallas to collaborate with Voices of Change, for Wind Across the Sky in a program of music by Bruce Adolphe. These appearances followed her most exciting debut yet as a new mother.
Other recent appearances include Klärchen with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth’sCliburn at the Modern series debut in concert with composer Jake Heggie, Musetta with Lubbock Symphony, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Charleston Symphony, multiple performances of Kapilow’s Green Eggs and Ham with Fort Worth Symphony, Barbarina with Greensboro Opera Company, Gretel with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and Capitol Opera Raleigh, and pops/holiday programs with the symphonies of Dallas, Eugene, Mid-Atlantic, and the Allen Philharmonic. She has also appeared with Baltimore Opera, Berkshire Opera, Opera Vivente, and The Living Opera in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles for which she has been acclaimed for her “delicious voice” (Classical Voice North Carolina) and outstanding musicianship. Contemporary roles include Laurie Moss (The Tender Land), Masha (The Music Shop), Niece One (Peter Grimes), and the title characters in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and David Shapiro’s The April Witch. Other favorite portrayals include Despina (Così fan tutte), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte).
Elizabeth is a popular recitalist and concert artist for presenters including Trinity Church Concerts at One (NYC), Philadelphia's Lyric Fest, the contemporary ensemble Voices of Change (Dallas), Oregon’s Eugene Concert Choir and Chamber Music Amici, Ohio’s Lancaster Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, Columbia Bach Society (NYC), Baltimore’s Community Concerts at Second series, and The Vienna Project: Vienna in Song at the Clark Art Institute (MA), and the Rising Stars Concert Series in Fairfax, VA with flutist Betsy Garry as the prize winning ensemble Duo Rossignol. From 2007-2010 Ms. Racheva served as artistic director of Voces Intimae, a Dallas art song series. During her tenure, Voces Intimae experienced dramatic audience growth and doubled the size of the board, while garnering critical acclaim for programming and artistry.
Elizabeth was trained as a Resident Artist at Berkshire Opera Company and was engaged as a member of the Baltimore Opera Education Ensemble in three different productions from 2000-2002, performing for schoolchildren throughout the Mid-Atlantic in venues including Wolftrap Theatre-in-the-Woods, Annapolis Opera, and Opera Delaware. She has also trained at the Middlebury College Deutscheschule and the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria, where she specialized in the study of the Lied and had the honor to study Lieder and poetry with such eminent artists as Helmut Deutsch, Elly Ameling, Rudolf Jansen, Wolfgang Holzmair, and Robert Tear. Elizabeth earned a Bachelor of Arts with high honors from Emory University and a Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma, with certificate in opera performance, from Peabody Conservatory. Elizabeth also nurtures a parallel career in arts administration as director of special projects at the Curtis Institute of Music.
