Heidi Melton, acclaimed for her “big gleaming soprano” (The New York Times) and hailed by La Presse as “the Wagnerian voice we have been waiting for since Flagstad and Nilsson,” has established herself as one of the leading dramatic sopranos of her generation. Known for her interpretations of the works of Wagner, Strauss, and other late Romantic composers, she is a frequent guest at the world’s foremost opera houses and concert halls. In the 25/26 season she performs Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with both the Littleton Symphony Orchestra and the Boulder Philharmonic.

Ms. Melton has appeared with many of the world's major opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich, Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Bayreuther Festspiele, Seattle Opera, and Teatro La Fenice.

A sought-after interpreter of the great Wagnerian heroines, Melton has portrayed Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), Sieglinde and Brünnhilde (Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), and Elisabeth and Venus (Tannhäuser). Her repertoire also includes Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Mescalina (Le grand macabre), Elsa (Lohengrin), and Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel), among others.

On the concert stage, she has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Tonkünstler Orchestra (Vienna), Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New World Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

Melton’s artistry has led to collaborations with many of the world’s most celebrated conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Alan Gilbert, Jaap van Zweden, Kirill Petrenko, Zubin Mehta, Karina Canellakis, Eun Sun Kim, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, James Gaffigan, Markus Stenz, Robert Spano, and Patrick Summers.

Notable career highlights include her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic performing the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung under Valery Gergiev at both the Musikverein and Carnegie Hall; her Bayreuth Festival debut as Sieglinde in Die Walküre; a BBC Proms appearance as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser with Donald Runnicles; and the role of Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with the Mariinsky Orchestra. Her discography includes Tristan und Isolde with the Mariinsky Orchestra (Gergiev) and Wagner’s Siegfried and Die Walküre with the Hong Kong Philharmonic (van Zweden) on the Naxos label. She also appears on The Metropolitan Opera’s commercially released Ring Cycle conducted by Fabio Luisi (Deutsche Grammophon).

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, Melton is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Sara Tucker Award, and the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition.

Ms. Melton proudly shares her expertise with Turn The Spotlight, a foundation working to identify, nurture, and empower leaders – and in turn, to illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. Turn The Spotlight offers mentorship by and for exceptional women, people of color, and members of other equity-seeking groups in the arts.