Mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider has been recognized for her “gleaming vocalism” (Boston Globe), “star acting” (Urban Milwaukee), and “superbly clear diction and warmly burnished timbre” (South Florida Classical Review). In demand for performances of classical and contemporary opera alike, Ms. Crider created the role of Alma in Keeril Makan and Jay Scheib’s Persona in its world premiere with the Beth Morrison Projects and later at LA Opera, about which the New York Times raved, “The Mezzo- Soprano, Amanda Crider, made a winsome, vulnerable, and when the story turns dark, wildly volatile Alma, who for long stretches carries the entire opera,” and San Francisco Classical Voice declared, “Crider’s performance was a tour-deforce for its sustained vocal luster, dramatic variation, and sheer amount of singing.”
This season, Crider returns to the Master Chorale of South Florida for a concert of works by Handel and Mozart, and she also returns to Bach Festival Society of Winter Park to sing Bach’s St. John Passion. She will join Opera Southwest as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and the Nashville Symphony as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah.
In the 2024-2025 season, Crider performed as a soloist in a concert of Ravel, Delage and Copland with New World Symphony, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park; and made multiple appearances with Bach Vocal Artists and the GRAMMY® nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire. Crider is also featured in Apollo’s Fire’s album Le Tre Soprano, released on AVIE Records in February 2025.
Crider has been seen as the title character in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Florentine Opera, a role that she “wielded with beauty and charisma” (Voix des arts). Boston University News Service declared her “the true star” for her leading role in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek, and Opera News lauded her “beautiful work” and “agility” playing the English Teacher in Gregory Spears and Kathryn Walat’s 2019 recording of Paul’s Case, a role which Crider premiered with the Prototype
Festival and Urban Arias.
A busy soloist and recitalist, Ms. Crider appears regularly with Seraphic Fire, Apollo’s Fire, and the Bach Festival Society of Florida. She has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Nu Deco Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestras of Amarillo, Charleston, Charlotte, Elgin, Eugene, Fort Worth, Helena, Jacksonville, Kalamazoo, Savannah, Southwest Michigan, and Syracuse, and Philharmonic Orchestras of Calgary, Carnegie Mellon, Greeley, and Louisiana. She made her Carnegie Hall debut singing as mezzo soloist in Messiah with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, and returned the following season as soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. She has performed as a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bach’s B minor Mass and St. John Passion, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Mass in C minor, Britten’s Phaedra, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony, Manuel de Falla’s Three Cornered Hat, David Lang’s the little match girl passion, and Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses; and has been a featured recitalist on the Trinity Church Concerts at One Series and with Five Boroughs Music Festival.
Ms. Crider’s first foray into the operatic world as L’Enfant in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Tanglewood Music Center was hailed by Opera News as “delightful,” the Boston Globe stating she sang with “ineffable tenderness.” Since then, she has delighted audiences in the roles of Malcolm in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, Isolier in Le Comte Ory, Angelina (La Cenerentola), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Sesto (Handel Giulio Cesare), the title role in Carmen, Nellie Forbush (South Pacific), Speranza/Pastore #3 (Monteverdi L’Orfeo), Siébel (Faust), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Laurey (Oklahoma), and Penelope in the world premiere of Mary Prescott’s opera, A Survivor’s Odyssey, at companies including the Dallas Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Omaha, Nevada Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Eugene Opera, Anchorage Opera, Opera Southwest, Opera Boston, Resonance Works Pittsburgh, White Snake Projects, Opera Orlando, New York City Opera, Castleton Festival and the Glimmerglass Festival.
Crider has been awarded a grant from the Pittsburgh Concert Society, a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, and the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition’s David and Ingrid Kosowsky Award. She was a finalist in the José Iturbi International, Center for Contemporary Opera, Joy in Singing Debut Artist, Oratorio Society of New York, and the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competitions, and was the 2nd Place Winner in the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition. Crider won a 2022 Alumni Enterprise Award from Music Academy of the West. Crider founded vocal chamber music organization IlluminArts in Miami, FL in 2013, and served as Artistic Director for 9 seasons. She is now Executive Director of the GRAMMY® winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth.
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Mezzo-soprano ARYSSA LEIGH BURRS is hailed for her “rich sound and thoughtful musical ideas” while “transcending vocal styles and genres with flexibility and ease” (DC Theater Arts). Recent and upcoming soloist engagements include, Nerone (Poppea, InSeries Opera), Bach’s St. John Passion (Clarion Music Society, The Thirteen), Messiah (The Thirteen), Minerva (Return of Ulysses, InSeries Opera), Wassail! (Apollo’s Fire), BWV 7 (Bach Choir of Bethlehem), and in May 2025, Copland’s In The Beginning (Cathedral Choral Society). Aryssa performs with ensembles such as The Crossing, The Thirteen, Clarion Music Society, and Ensemble Altera. Aryssa’s comfort in various styles is best heard as a founding member of Lyyra, the internationally touring, 6-voiced women’s ensemble from the Voces8 Foundation, which was recently signed to Warner Classics. Lyyra is making strides in the vocal world by promoting women’s voices while performing a wide range of genres for diverse audiences. 
JACOB PERRY, tenor, is lauded for his stylish interpretations of early music. As a soloist, he lends his graceful sense of phrasing and luminous tone to engagements with the American Classical Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, Philharmonia Baroque, Portland Baroque, Tafelmusik, Tempesta di Mare, and Washington Bach Consort. In 2024, he was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award as a soloist on Apollo’s Fire’s recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Deeply immersed in vocal chamber music, Jacob performs with ensembles including Les Canards Chantants, Blue Heron, and TENET. Career highlights include his recent solo debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Israel in Egypt, headlining the inaugural festival of Western Early Music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music with Les Canards Chantants, and English Orpheus—a tour-de-force exploration of love songs and poems from the Elizabethan, Restoration, and early 18th-century periods he performed with Tempesta di Mare.
