Biography
Soprano, Symone Harcum comes off of the 2022-2023 season with a successful string of role and house debuts including the Glimmerglass Festival in the role of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Minnesota Opera, and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she sang the role of Sandra in the world premier of Will Liverman’s Factotum. Last season, Symone appeared with Minnesota Opera as Léontine in The Anonymous Lover and Micaëla in Carmen, and Virginia Opera as La Contessa in Le Nozze di
"Symone Harcum, a true spinto, brought vocal flexibility and a wide expressive range to the role of Donna Anna, qualities that made “Non mi dir” one of the evening’s highlights."
- Opera News
Figaro. This season will see a role debut as Mimí in Puccini’s La Boheme at Minnesota Opera as well as recital and concert engagements across the country.
In the summer of 2021 she rejoined the Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist where she sang the role of Mascha and covered Lisa in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. During the 2020 season she participated in Virginia Opera’s alternate season initiative, “Stayin’ Alive” where she participated in socially distanced performances in the community and sang Girl in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.
As a member of 2019-2020 The Herndon Foundation Emerging Artist Program at Virginia Opera, she sang the role of Clorinda in La Cenerentola and covered the title role and sang The High Priestess in Aïda. In the fall of 2020, she was a finalist in in both the Tri-Cities Opera Competition and the New York International Opera + Premiere Opera Vocal Competition. Most recently, Symone was named the first place winner of the 2021 Opera Ithaca Competition.
Other notable roles and achievements include being 2018’s first place winner of both the National Society of Arts and Letters-DC Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Voice Competition and the Sylvia Green Voice Competition; The roles of Bea in Opera Maine's production of Three Decembers, Krystyna Zywulska in Peabody Opera's workshop of Out of Darkness:
"It was with her voice that Harcum lit up the stage, revealing an ample, plush, seamless soprano capable of remarkable radiance in the upper reaches. Her “Dove sono,” in particular, was as gorgeous in tone as it was poetic of phrase."
- Opera News
Two Remain with the composer, Jake Heggie, and librettist, Gene Scheer, Gertrude (the mother) in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi.
After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Norfolk State University in 2012, she worked as a choral director in Norfolk Public Schools until 2016. Symone received her Master’s of Music from Peabody Conservatory at John’s Hopkins University and continues to study in the studio of Denyce Graves and Margaret Baroody. This year she joins the voice faculty of her alma mater, Norfolk State University.
