Praised by Opera News for her “relish and energy,” mezzo-soprano Max Potter is an up-and-coming artist known for her warmth of tone and dramatic presence. The 2020-21 season featured her main stage debut with Opera Santa Barbara as Flosshilde in the Jonathan Dove reduction of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, for which she also covered the role of Fricka. Last season also featured her debut of an innovative staging of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été at Opera Santa Barbara, the world premiere recording of Constantine Carvasilis’ song cycle Epiphany for mezzo-soprano and cello, and a concert series with The Muse’s Creative Artistry Project with a gala performance at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion for Governor Asa Hutchinson. For the 2021-22 season she joined the American Opera Project as a resident singer for the company’s “Composers and the Voice” Fellowship, and makes her symphonic debut as the Alto Soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah at The Washington National Cathedral. 

Highlights from Max’s previous engagements include covering the role of Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin with Opera Southwest, making her main stage debut with Opera Southwest as Clarina in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio, and covering the role of Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s contemporary opera Dead Man Walking with Des Moines Metro Opera. Previous roles also include Charlotte (Werther), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and Concepción (L’heure espagnole). Equally at home on the concert stage and in the recital hall, Max has shown her natural affinity for new works. Highlights include The Sacred Feminine, an innovative performance piece celebrating the work of Emily Dickinson through spoken word and art song, with New Camerata Opera, and Heggie’s The Breaking Waves with Des Moines Metro Opera, which she performed in recital for the composer.