Sherezade Panthaki

Soprano Sherezade Panthaki is internationally renowned for her expertise in the performance of Baroque music - “a full, luxuriously toned upper range” (The Los Angeles Times), “astonishing coloratura with radiant top notes” (Calgary Herald) - with passionately informed interpretations, “mining deep emotion from the subtle shaping of the lines” (The New York Times). Ms. Panthaki enjoys ongoing collaborations with many of the world’s leading conductors including Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Mark Morris, Nicholas Kraemer, Matthew Halls, Paul Agnew, and Lawrence Cummings.

An active and passionate music educator, Ms. Panthaki is highly in demand as a guest clinician, presenting vocal masterclasses at Universities and Arts Schools across the United States including Yale University, Dartmouth University, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and several more. She served as the Christoph Wolff Visiting Performer at the Harvard University Department of Music giving masterclasses and performances in collaboration with Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Following her graduation with honors from Yale University, Ms. Panthaki has been the Vocal Instructor to graduate Choral Conducting students at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music as well as Vocal Coach for the Yale Baroque Opera Project. While residing in Illinois, she taught for several years at Millikin University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a founding member and Artistic Advisor of the newly-formed Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, celebrating racial diversity and musical excellence in early/ new music.

Recent and ongoing seasons as soprano soloist mark appearances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Wiener Akademie (Austria), Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Canada), NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover (Germany), Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The Boston Early Music Festival, The San Francisco Early Music Festival, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque (Chicago), Mark Morris Dance Group, Trinity Wall Street NYC, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada), Minnesota Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival, the Choir and Orchestra of St. Thomas Fifth Avenue NYC, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Musica Angelica (Los Angeles). Ms. Panthaki has ongoing national and international solo appearances in various programs throughout the year with the New York City-based Parthenia Viol Consort including at the Biennale in Venice, Italy. Firmly at home in the numerous Baroque oratorios, operas, and cantatas of Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Purcell, and Monteverdi, Ms. Panthaki is no stranger to 19th, 20th and 21st century concert repertoire as soprano soloist. She is widely acclaimed for her interpretations of Brahms’ Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Poulenc’s Gloria; notable among her new music premieres is the soprano role of Emily Dickinson in Martin Bresnick’s oratorio Passions of Bloom.

Ms. Panthaki’s multi-fold discography includes recently released recordings of Handel’s oratorios Joseph and his Brethren as well as Saul with Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Graupner’s opera Antiochus und Stratonica with the Boston Early Music Festival, Steffani Duets for Princess Charlotte with Jory Vinikour, YouTube recordings with Voices of Music, and many more.

Born and raised in India, Ms. Panthaki began her musical education at an early age. Following intensive study and earning national distinction as a young pianist, she turned to singing and found a more personal and expressive means to connect with audiences. She holds an Artist Diploma with top honors from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where she was the winner of multiple awards of distinction including the prestigious Phyllis Curtin Career Entry Prize. She earned a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College.