Quinn Middleman
mezzo-soprano
La Resurrezione
Haymarket Opera | Mary Cleofe | 2024
"De Priest’s gleaming timbre contrasted nicely with the alluringly dark mezzo coloration of Quinn Middleman’s Mary of Cleophas in their duet. Middleman was technically secure and musical."
​
- Chicago Classical Review
​
​
"Soprano Hannah De Priest’s Mary Magdalene and mezzo-soprano Quinn Middleman’s Mary Cleophas presented striking vocal contrasts and thus clear identities, the former bright and buoyant and the latter exuding a dusky, voluptuous texture."
​
- Chicago on the Aisle
​
​
Die Zauberflöte
Annapolis Opera | Dritte Dame | 2023
"It has been a strength of the Annapolis Opera that they continue to attract such a talented cast of singers... Of note were the First Lady (Adia Evans), Second Lady (Jazmine Olwalia), and the Third Lady (Quinn Middleman), whose strong voices carried much of the humor in the first act."
-DC Theater Arts
La liberazione di Ruggiero
Haymarket Opera | Nunzia | 2023
"Mezzo-soprano Quinn Middleman exemplified the company's commitment to dramatic nuance. Portraying the court lady Nunzia overhearing Ruggiero's vow to abandon Alcina, she scurried away to report his betrayal. In a long aria studded by some of the opera's rare vocal ornaments, she carried a whiff of the classic mean girl."
​
- Musical America
​
​
"Showing versatility in smaller roles and comprising the excellent chorus [included] Quinn Middleman..."
​
- Chicago Classical Review
​
​
"Trompeter put together a group of singers... who are capable, communicative artists who understand the Baroque singing style and are comfortable with the theatrical stylizations of the period."
​
- Classical Voice North America
La Susanna
Haymarket Opera | Testo | 2022
"Young mezzo Quinn Middleman has consistently made a fine impression with her work in Chicago theaters, so it was good to see her strut her stuff in a meatier assignment as Testo, the work’s narrator. Middleman’s tone was pungent and ample, with some impressive plunges into a healthy chest register and a nicely executed little trillo."
-Opera News
​
​
"Mezzo Soprano Quinn Middleman as Testo, the oratorio’s narrator, proved an animated musical storyteller, carefully changing timbres to reflect emotional changes and thereby keeping the audience engaged."
​
-Musical America
​
​
"Middleman fulfilled her role as presenter of the story with aplomb, and it appeared she’d memorized the whole score; she rarely looked at her book. Her haunting full-throated roundness of tone brought tangible moments of surprise and threat in her dramatic telling. She used her diction to complete the shaping of sounds in recitative passages, so appropriate to the details of storytelling."
​
-Core of Culture
La traviata
Utah Opera | Flora | 2019
"Utah Opera’s 2019-20 Resident Artists make an admirable showing in this production, [including] mezzo Quinn Middleman as effervescent Flora Bervoix."
​
-Utah Arts Review
The Ghosts of Versailles
Chautauqua Opera | Susanna | 2019
“Other roles were handled with impressive vocal and acting skill by upcoming singers from the company’s deep Young Artists roster. They included a...very believable Susanna (mezzo-soprano Quinn Middleman).”
​
-Tom Di Nardo, The Chautauquan Daily
​
The Scarlet Ibis
Chicago Opera Theater | Mother | 2019
"Quinn Middleman caressed Mother's lullaby touchingly and scored extra points for keening her cries of labor pain right on pitch."
​
-Opera News
​​
​
"Middleman’s violent child birthing scene at the start of the opera revealed a singer who is vocally up to new challenges that belie her youth... This is a VOICE. Congratulations to whomever cast Middleman in this role, which could have easily turned camp, but in Middleman’s hands feels visceral and authentic... a breakout performance."
​
-VocalArtsChicago
​
​
"Middleman brought tenderness and a gentle presence to the role of Mother. Her fine, warm mezzo-soprano voice easily met the challenge of vocal demands which included musically notated high notes for sung screams and groans during the first scene’s difficult childbirth. Ms. Middleman musically gave us all of a woman’s pain, fear, agony, joy, and strength while in the throes of one of life’s essential moments... Ms. Middleman touchingly exchanged excitement and optimism for the pathos of the forlorn hope of an unattainable goal."
​
-Buzz News Center Stage, February 2019
​
​
"Quinn Middleman, Bill McMurray, and Sharmay Musacchio create a rich and deeply connected family unit as Mother, Father, and Auntie respectively. The maturity and sheer power of their vocal talents is nothing short of a modern marvel. "
​
-Chicagoland Musical Theatre
​
Elizabeth Cree
Chicago Opera Theater | Doris | 2018
“Painted with incisive brush strokes, the other members of the theatrical troupe were superb, including David Govertsen as Uncle, Jason Ferrante as Little Victor, and Quinn Middleman as Doris.”
​
-Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review
The Burning Fiery Furnace
Central City Opera | Entertainer | 2017
"In the roles of court 'entertainers' Marlen Nahhas and Quinn Middleman are exuberant and funny."
​
-David Marlowe
Variations on a Summer Day
Tanglewood Music Center | world premiere,
Harold Meltzer | 2016
“The Fromm Foundation commission was Variations on a Summer Day, set to Wallace Stevens’ poetry by the Brooklyn lawyer Harold Meltzer,… Quinn Middleman, from Washington state, was the compelling mezzo-soprano.”
​
-Leslie Kandell, Classical Voice North America​
​
“Mezzo-soprano Quinn Middleman made a similarly persuasive case for Harold Meltzer’s “Variations on a Summer Day,” a gleaming setting of texts from the Wallace Stevens poem of the same name.”
​
-Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe
