Mary-Hollis Hundley is currently in her first season on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera as a cover of Sister Catherine and Sister Lillian in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Later this season, she will travel to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky for a recital featuring all Appalachian music, including two commissioned song cycles from Kentucky artists. She will also return to Arizona Opera for Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni).
Earlier in 2023, she reprised of the role of Joella “Jo” Jenner in The Knock by composer Aleksandra Vrebalov and librettist Deborah Brevoort for Cincinnati Opera, a role she sang for its world premiere as a film in 2021 with Glimmerglass Festival. Additional engagements this past season include Freia in Dayton Opera’s Das Rheingold, Alecta in House of Orfeus for Opera Carolina, Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music for Arizona Opera, and Die Aufseherin in Elektra with New York Dramatic Voices.
In the summer of 2022, Ms. Hundley made her official Glimmerglass debut, performing the roles of Kayla in Taking Up Serpents and Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music.
During the 2019-20 season, Ms. Hundley was awarded First Place in the Brava! James M. Collier Vocal Competition and received an Encouragement Award from the Wagner Society of New York. She covered the title role in Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Santa Fe Opera, where she was awarded the Anna Case MacKay Memorial Award for Outstanding Apprentices.
Hundley’s previous season highlights include Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel at the Detroit Opera, Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with Bronx Opera, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Virginia Opera, and three exciting covers: Christine Brewer’s Ariadne auf Naxos at Kentucky Opera, Jennifer Rowley’s Medea in Mayr’s Medea in Corinto with Teatro Nuovo, and Susan Graham in the title role of Blitzstein’s Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Her mainstage credits include Meg Page in Vaughan William’s Sir John in Love (Bronx Opera), High Priestess (Aïda) at Sarasota Opera, Musetta (La bohème) at Tulsa Opera, and Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) at Opera in the Heights. Her other roles include Mother (Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors), Female Chorus (Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia), Governess (Britten’s The Turn of the Screw), and the title roles in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta.
She has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, George London Foundation, Gerda Lissner Young Artist Institute, and Sarasota Opera Guild.
She holds degrees from Mannes College the New School for Music and the University of Kentucky.
