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). A born communicator, Elizabeth sings her way through most days whether shepherding her rambunctious children, engaging an audience wholeheartedly, or galvanizing colleagues offstage to do great things.
Recent seasons onstage have been 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, an evening of pops with Allen Philharmonic in Texas; Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra; Schubert songs in their original piano settings and the Liszt orchestral transcriptions for the American Liszt Society Festival in Oregon; Mozart's Mass in C Minor with Oregon's Eugene Concert Choir, and also with Singing City and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; and Bruce Adolphe's Wind Across the Sky in a return to pioneering southwestern new music ensemble, Voices of Change. Other highlights include Klärchen with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth’s Cliburn at the Modern series debut with composer Jake Heggie at the piano, 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.
Sharing stories through song might be Elizabeth's favorite pasttime onstage. She has been a popular recitalist--and concert artist-- for presenters across the country including Trinity Church Concerts at One (NYC), Philadelphia's Lyric Fest and Kimmel Center Presents! series, Oregon’s Chamber Music Amici, Ohio’s Lancaster Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, Columbia Bach Society (NYC), Baltimore’s Community Concerts at Second series, 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.
Early in her career she 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 incisive musicianship. Elizabeth's 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 characters include Despina (Così fan tutte), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte).
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 over three seasons, performing for schoolchildren throughout the Mid-Atlantic in venues including Wolftrap Theatre-in-the-Woods, Annapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, and countless cafetoriums and auditerias. She 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 has nurtured a parallel career in arts and higher education for nearly two decades. She currently serves as Chief Philanthropy Officer at Washington Performing Arts, following roles in development, communications, and real estate at the Curtis Institute of Music, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Greenhill School, Southern Methodist University, and Columbia University. She and her husband reside outside of Washington D.C, where her favorite role by far is mom to two spirited little girls that make her laugh each and every day.
Recent seasons onstage have been 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, an evening of pops with Allen Philharmonic in Texas; Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra; Schubert songs in their original piano settings and the Liszt orchestral transcriptions for the American Liszt Society Festival in Oregon; Mozart's Mass in C Minor with Oregon's Eugene Concert Choir, and also with Singing City and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; and Bruce Adolphe's Wind Across the Sky in a return to pioneering southwestern new music ensemble, Voices of Change. Other highlights include Klärchen with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth’s Cliburn at the Modern series debut with composer Jake Heggie at the piano, 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.
Sharing stories through song might be Elizabeth's favorite pasttime onstage. She has been a popular recitalist--and concert artist-- for presenters across the country including Trinity Church Concerts at One (NYC), Philadelphia's Lyric Fest and Kimmel Center Presents! series, Oregon’s Chamber Music Amici, Ohio’s Lancaster Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, Columbia Bach Society (NYC), Baltimore’s Community Concerts at Second series, 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.
Early in her career she 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 incisive musicianship. Elizabeth's 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 characters include Despina (Così fan tutte), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte).
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 over three seasons, performing for schoolchildren throughout the Mid-Atlantic in venues including Wolftrap Theatre-in-the-Woods, Annapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, and countless cafetoriums and auditerias. She 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 has nurtured a parallel career in arts and higher education for nearly two decades. She currently serves as Chief Philanthropy Officer at Washington Performing Arts, following roles in development, communications, and real estate at the Curtis Institute of Music, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Greenhill School, Southern Methodist University, and Columbia University. She and her husband reside outside of Washington D.C, where her favorite role by far is mom to two spirited little girls that make her laugh each and every day.
