rachel joselson, soprano

bio

While still a university student in voice performance, Rachel Joselson  performed with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. After completing her masters’ degree at Indiana University, she moved to Europe and pursued private voice study with Mario and Rina del Monaco in Lancenigo, Italy. Her first full-time operatic contract was in Darmstadt, singing roles Rosina, Dorabella, Cherubino, Adalgisa and Idamante, before transitioning  to soprano repertoire during her years at Hamburg.  Hamburg roles include Mireille, Mimì, Micaela (Carmen), Méisande, Marjênka (Bartered Bride), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Leonore (Fidelio), and Eva (Meistersinger).

After returning to the U.S. in the late 1990s, the Metropolitan Opera engaged her for Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. She has performed with symphony orchestras in Madison, Oshkosh, and Johnson City, Tennessee, and was featured with the Utah Festival Opera in Logan and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in Salt Lake City for its International Sunday broadcast. She sang Madame Euterpova in the 1998 CD recording of Menotti’s Help!Help! The  Globolinks,with the Madison Symphony Opera and Orchestra under the baton of John DeMain.  Her first solo CD "The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney" with pianist Rene Lecuona, was released in 2003 by Albany Records.  She was coached on this repertoire in Paris with pianist/coach/Leguerney scholar Mary Dibbern, and debuted these in concert at the American Cathedral.

Her CD, "Songs of the Holocaust" with pianist Réne Lecuona, cellist Hannah Holman, and violinist Scott Conklin, was released by Albany Records in July 2016.   She has presented this program at CUNY Graduate School in New York City, Lawrence University, Montclair State, Middlebury College, Chapman University, Colorado College, Middlebury College, at synagogues and religious institutions across the county, and at the annual commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp for the United Nations General Assembly live broadcast in January 2017. 

 She was invited to Leipzig, where she presented lecture and master classes about American song composers at a convention for the German Association of Voice TeacherInternationaConvention--BDG.  In Halle, she taught belcanto technique and was an artist-in-residence at the Asolo Song Festival and Institute in Italy. She also traveled to perform and teach at Puebla’s National Music Conservatory in Mexico.    

Joselson has adjudicated both state and regional competitions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Iowa and Illinois, and for the Classical Singer Convention in Chicago, at which she also presented master classes. Joselson performed a recital in Philadelphia as well as Russian and French Repertoire for the 54th Annual Midwest Modern Language Convention in Cincinnati. She is also a featured soloist on NPR’s World Canvas program produced by Iowa Public Radio in Iowa City’s Old Capital’s Senate Chamber.  In Leipzig, Joselson presented lecture and master classes about American song composers at a convention for the German Association of Voice Teacher International Convention--BDG.  In Halle, she taught belcanto technique and was an artist-in-residenceat the Asolo Song Festival and Institute in Italy. She also traveled to perform and teach at Puebla’s National Music Conservatory in Mexico.

“Je Donnerai Mes Jours: Complete Songs of Gabriel Dupont", was released in July,  2019.  Currently in production is her latest CD, Songs and Chamber Works of Stella Lerner, to be released by Centaur Records in 2022.  “Ich Denke Dein: Songs and Chamber Works of Nikolai Medtner" was  released in 2020 by Albany records. 

Joselson is planning her next recording project, Songs of living Spanish composer Guillermo Martínez.

After branching out into her first love, musical theater, she performed Desirée in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Middlebury Opera,

Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Glinda/Auntie Em

in the Wizard of Oz, and Mama Morton in Kander and Ebb’s Chicago, the Musical with Iowa City’s Old Capitol Opera.  In 2022, she performed the role of Signora Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza, with American Gothic Performing Arts Festival in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Joselson received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Rutgers University, her Master's from Indiana University, and her Bachelor's from Florida State University.   She has been on the faculty at the University of Iowa since 1997. Joselson lives in Iowa City with her husband Michael, and their cat Carlino.