BIOGRAPHY

Recognized for her "sensual" and "strong" voice (New York Times), mezzo-soprano Devony Smith is a versatile performer with a wide-ranging repertoire in opera and concert music. Recent seasons have held a variety of role debuts for Devony, including Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and the title role in La Cenerentola with Opera Modesto, as well as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with New York City Opera, Dido in Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Comunale di Narni, and the Rooster in a new orchestral arrangement of The Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Fabrice Bollon in collaboration with Opera Freiburg, which premiered on the SWR Stuttgart radio and was released on CD under the Naxos label.

Devony is a sought-after collaborator with composers, having premiered works by Grammy-award winning composer Jennifer Higdon, Jake Landau, Eve Beglarian, and Luna Pearl Woolf. This spring, she sang the role of the Designer in the world premiere of Woolf's oratorio Number Our Days at the Perelman Performing Arts Center with the choir of Trinity Wall Street. Devony has a long relationship with Kate Soper’s work Here Be Sirens, which she has performed four different seasons, including an appearance at National Sawdust. Devony recently joined the Albany Symphony for a concert of 5 world-premiere pieces at the EMPAC theater in Troy.

"'SHAMES TRIPLE ARIA TRANSFORMATION' [WAS] PERFORMED WITH DRAMATIC CONVICTION BY DEVONY SMITH."

-CORINNA DA FONESCA-WOLLHEIM

A champion of concert repertoire, Devony has performed as a featured recitalist with Caramoor Center for the Arts, Carnegie Hall City Wide, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and Songfest, where she was also a recipient of a Sorel Fellowship. Recently, Devony has made several appearances at Carnegie Hall, where she was the Alto Soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, the alto soloist in Dan Forrest's Jubilate Deo with Manhattan Concert Production, and the alto soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria with MidAmerica Productions. In 2019, Devony was a soloist in Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 with the Colburn Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Yehuda Gilad. Additionally, she participated in the prestigious Song Continues Workshop with Marilyn Horne, Renée Fleming, and Graham Johnson at Carnegie Hall.

This season, Devony has been featured on multiple album releases, including singing the role of the Lover in Kate Soper's Romance of the Rose. She also performs the alto solos on Benjamin Wenzelberg's release of his cantata, Any of those Decembers. This spring, Devony anticipates the release of her debut solo album In this short Life with pianist Danny Zelibor, which features premiere recordings of works by composers Mark Adamo, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Landau, David Lang, B.E. Boykin, Eve Beglarian, and Will Liverman.