Biography
The American soprano and maker received her vocal education from the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Musik Hochschule Luzern, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and graduated with cum laude from the Dutch National Opera Academy. Maribeth holds a special affinity for 2oth and 21st century music, as well as extended vocal and breath art techniques. Her repertoire also includes powerful female title roles, such as Cherubini’s Médée, Die Frau (Erwartung), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Cio cio san (Madama Butterfly), Desdemona (Othello), Poppea (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Mére Marie (Les Dialouge des Carmelites), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte) and Tatjana (Eugene Onegin), which she performed in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw during the Robeco Festival.
​
She toured as a soloist for Alain Platel, choreographer at les ballet C. de la B. (now La Geste), and has sung under the musical direction of Fabrizio Cassol, leader of jazz trio AKA Moon, having performed their creations VSPRS, Pitié! and most recently as musical dramaturg for Requiem pour L in tours throughout Europe, as well as performances in Japan, South Korea, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pitié! Last stop Kinshasa, a documentation of the performance Pitié!, was aired on ARTE TV.
Championing female leadership in the arts, Maribeth was most recently a resident at the Camargo Foundation in the south of France together with composer and pianist Lucie de Saint Vincent, and has performed at the Aichi Festival 2022 with compositions by Chikage Imai. She has also performed in The Jewish Connection by Lisi Estaras and Ido Batash, Senza fine with director Gaia Saitta, and A Renue, which she continues to tour with director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe.
Maribeth continues to be engaged by the In Series Opera in Washington DC under the artistic direction of Timothy Nelson, whose mission is to transform opera tic practices by updating its representation and through its community outreach. She has most recently performed in a duo setting of Verdi’s Otello and Toni Morrison’s Desdemona, as well as Butterfly, a retaking of Puccini, King Harald’s Saga by Judith Weir, Love Songs by Ana Sokolovic and Pieces of a Last Act including Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.
Her own work includes her recent directing and performance debut entitled SOLA SOLETTA, which was premiered at the Flemish Opera in coproduction with Muziektheater Transparant, examining gender roles and diversity within the classical music canon. Other creations include Falling - songs in the dark together with composer Ezequiel Menalled, her self directed and performed Love Songs by Ana Sokolovic during the Women Composers Festival in Washington DC, and short narrative film direction and performance for the Arena Stage in Washington DC entitled Let me be Frank, based on the life of famous con artist Frank Abagnale.
Future creations include Passion Project, an oratorio based on the stories and suffrage of women together with composer and pianist Lucie de Saint Vincent, a performance documentary focusing on Asian female makers and artists in response to hate crimes against Asian communities, and a Breath Art research project together with breath artist and vocal percussionist, Shodekeh.
Maribeth is a PhD student at the Royal Institute of Theater, Cinema and Sound in Brussels, specialising in Breath Art which which investigates breath as the primary actor in all forms of dynamic breath expression in performing bodies. She and her work is supported by Muziektheater Transparant production house based in Antwerp, and her projects and research have been supported by the Flemish Ministry of Culture.
She is a proud resident of Gent, Belgium.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​