Noted for her “commanding and dramatic presence” (Opera News), mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum continues to garner recognition in the most demanding of operatic repertoire. In the current season, Tatum will join Knoxville Opera as Dame Quickly in Falstaff, the Knoxville Symphony as a soloist for Verdi’s Requiem and the Dallas Symphony as Grimgerde in Die Walküre, as well as Flosshilde in Das Rheingold. Highlights of her 2022–23 season included her continued relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in their new production of Rigoletto and her company debut at Palm Beach Opera singing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Tatum’s relationship with The Met spans 10 years and has included nearly 100 performances, including Fenena in Nabucco, Third Lady and Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Emilia in Otello, Inez in Il trovatore, Adonella in Francesca da Rimini, and Waltraute and Flosshilde in Robert LePage’s famed Der Ring des Nibelungen. Future performances include Rigoletto with the Metropolitan Opera, Die Walküre with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Concord Orchestra and Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Dallas Symphony.
Tatum began the 2019-20 season as Flosshilde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with The National Theater in Taiwan, followed by her role debut as Kundry in Parsifal for Indiana University Opera Theatre. She also returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, made her role debut as Azucena in Il trovatore with Pensacola Opera, and joined Rochester Philharmonic for Mother of Us All.
Scheduled performances in that season and in the 2020–21 season included Giulio Cesare and The Champion with Boston Lyric Opera, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Jacksonville Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Mill City Summer Opera, and productions of Giulio Cesare and Die Zauberflöte at The Met. She has recently been heard as Flosshilde and Waltraute in San Francisco Opera’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Flosshilde in Das Rheingold at The Tanglewood Festival, Francisca in West Side Story at Grand Tetons Music Festival with Donald Runnicles, Jenny in Threepenny Opera for Boston Lyric Opera, and as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera with Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin. Concert performances included Penderecki’s Credo with Indianapolis Symphony, Duruflé’s Requiem with Back Bay Chorale and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Cecelia Chorus of NYC.
She was also heard in concert with Warren Jones at Manchester Music Festival and in a concert presentation of Das Rheingold with New York Philharmonic. Other recent performances include the role of Gabriele Bertolier for the Romantic Century’s production of Van Gogh’s Ear at The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City and a concert titled “Opera Italiana Forever Young” for Central Park Summer Concerts. Previously, she was heard as Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung in her return to Houston Grand Opera and at National Taichung Theatre, Olga in Eugene Onegin with Boston Youth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Pacific Symphony, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Pacific Chorale, Mozart’s Requiem with Omaha Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with San Diego Symphony. Additionally, she has been heard as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Toledo Opera, Flosshilde and Waltraute for Washington National Opera, Flosshilde with Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Second Lady in Julie Taymor’s Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera, and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Grimgerde in Die Walküre at Houston Grand Opera.
Tatum also joined an international cast in Japan as Flora in Verdi’s La traviata, sang in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with the Eastern Music Festival, and in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Additional concert appearances include The Page in Salome with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Santa Cruz Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Indianapolis Symphony, NY Philharmonic and Orange County Philharmonic Society. Tatum holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and California State University Fullerton. She was also an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera and alumna of the Lindemann Young Artists Program at the Metropolitan Opera.