Meg Bragle

Widely praised for her musical intelligence and “expressive virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle), American mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle is quickly earning an international reputation as one of today’s most gifted and versatile mezzo-sopranos.

Ms. Bragle has sung in North America and Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Les Violons du Roy, Apollo’s Fire and the Dunedin Consort, as well as with the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Colorado, Calgary, Memphis, San Antonio, Charlotte, Akron, North Carolina, and Nova Scotia. Frequently a featured soloist with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, she has performed with them at the Leipzig Bachfest and the Prague Spring, Luzerne, Aldeburgh and Brighton festivals.

Recent and upcoming highlights include her BBC Proms debut singing Bach's Easter and Ascension Oratorios with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists; Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Colorado Symphony and Matthew Halls; a program of Bach cantatas with Giovanni Antonini and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; the title role in Handel's Susannah with Ars Lyrica Houston; performances and recording of Bach's Easter Oratorio with the English Baroque Soloists; Bach's Magnificat and cantatas with Music of the Baroque and Nicholas Kraemer; Handel's Messiah at the National Arts Centre with Matthew Halls; and Bach cantatas with Early Music Vancouver.

Her opera roles include Dido and the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Dardano in Handel’s Amadigi, Amastre in Handel’s Serse, Speranza in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Ippolita in Cavalli’s Elena, and Elpina in Vivaldi’s La Fida Ninfa.

Ms. Bragle has made several recordings with Apollo's Fire: Mozart’s Requiem (Koch), Handel's Dixit Dominus and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (Avie), Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (Avie) and L'Orfeo (Eclectra). Other recordings include JS Bach's Ascension Cantatas with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists (SDG), JS Bach's St. John Passion with Arion Baroque and Les Voix Baroques (ATMA Classique), Cozzolani’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and Messa Paschale with Magnificat (Musica Omnia), Music of Medieval Love with New York’s Ensemble for Early Music (Ex Cathedra Records), the Five Borough Songbook with the Five Boroughs Music Festival (GPR Records), Toby Twining’s Chrysalid Requiem (Cantaloupe Music), Anthony Newman’s Requiem (Khaeon World Music) and Copland’s In the Beginning with John Scott and the Men and Boy Choir of St. Thomas Fifth Avenue and the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte on their own labels. A recording of JS Bach's Easter Oratorio and BWV 106 "Actus Tragicus" is forthcoming.

Ms. Bragle studied both violin and voice at the University of Michigan before earning a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance and English. She also completed a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University. She is the recipient of several awards and recognition from Symphony Magazine, the American Bach Society, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Bethlehem Bach Festival.