Performing Artist
My twenty-year career as a classically trained mezzo-soprano informs my work as a leader, providing a firsthand understanding of the labor, economics, and professional resilience required by the independent creative workforce.
Hailed by the Star Tribune as "singing with dignity, beauty and power,” I am committed to storytelling and representation. My 20-year career spans operatic performances with Minnesota Opera and Washington National Opera and concerts with Orlando Philharmonic and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. My training includes studies in Milan, Italy, with celebrated Italian mezzo soprano, Giulietta Simionato, and a Master of Music from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
I strive to expand the vocal canon through cultural representation. I specialize in African American and Spanish art songs and new works expanding the American classical music canon, such as Terce by Heather Christian, Music of Earth by Russ Kaplan, and My Name is Florence by B.E. Boykin.
Listen. Watch. Connect.
Scroll down to hear my latest tracks, see photos from the stage, and read what critics are saying. You can also grab tickets for my upcoming performance, download my resume, or get in touch regarding future projects. I look forward to connecting!
Artistic Credo
The stage is a sacred space for storytelling through song. My work on stage as a performing artist is dedicated to exploring the African diasporic experience — preserving the rich history of African American art song while championing the voices of contemporary composers.
Upcoming Performances
Terce: A Practical Breviary is a radical rethinking of a monastic 9:00 AM mass and an adaptation that reimagines the face of the “Holy Spirit” through the lens of the Divine Feminine. Sung by a choir of caregivers and makers, it is a wild meditation/celebration of the sacred mothers alive in all of us. Inspired by ideas taken from three female mystics (Julian of Norwich, Hildegard von Bingen, and Robin Wall Kimmerer) this non-narrative song cycle blends new music, neo-soul, and gospel with traditional medieval organum— is percussed with active caretaking and craft making and is danced wildly. More of an event than a theatrical performance, it is built as an active ritual to celebrate and venerate our feminine alignment with nature and recover from living in the confines of a civilization built to control or ignore it.
April 30 - May 16, 2026. Visit Theatre Elision for more information.
Image courtesy of Theatre Elision.
Reviews of “Terce” at Theatre Elision
Tracy Sees Stuff
“I’m going to get straight to the point. Don’t miss this show! It’s a fierce celebration of the caregivers and makers in all of us. It is for anyone who appreciates the feminine, nature, and the process of living and growing through it all. It’s the story of our lives beautifully sung in 60 minutes. A wild song and dance to honor our souls. Go and enjoy an hour to feel…laugh, cry, and just be with all that is given and all that is taken. I want to go back to the forest.
There are moments in life when you know you are witnessing something magical, and that is what happened as I watched this amazing group perform Terce.”
- Quote from “A MUST SEE! Terce (pronounced ter-chay) a practical breviary by Heather Christian through May 17, 2026” by Tracy Blowers
Cherry and Spoon
“Once again, Theatre Elision is bringing us the regional premiere of a new piece of music-theater, just two years after it's NYC premiere, that most people have probably never heard of. And friends, this one is truly special.
Terce is a one-of-a-kind musical/theatrical/spiritual experience, exactly what I've come to expect from Theatre Elision.”
Quote from “"Terce: A Practical Breviary" at Theatre Elision” from Cherry and Spoon
Performance Highlights
(To navigate, click the plus/minus sign on the right.)
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Radish/Soloist | Terce (Christian) - Theatre Elision
Ensemble Member | My Name is Florence (B.E. Boykin), World Premiere - Minnesota Opera
Marian Anderson | First Ladies Suite (LaChiusa) - Theatre Elision
Ensemble Member | Porgy and Bess (Gershwin) - Washington National Opera
Ensemble Member | Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) - Wolf Trap Opera
Ensemble Member | Le comte Ory (Rossini) - Wolf Trap Opera
Ensemble Member | Turandot (Puccini) - Minnesota Opera
Bacchis | La belle Hélène (Offenbach) - Lakes Area Music Festival
Il Musico | Le convenienze teatrali (Donizetti) - Opera Theater of Northern Virginia
Don Ettore | La canterina (Haydn) - Opera Theater of Northern Virginia
Diana | La calisto (Cavalli) - Ignoti dei Opera
Kate Pinkerton | Madame Butterfly - Orlando Opera
Edith | Pirates of Penzance - Orlando Opera
Paquette | Candide - Orlando Opera
Mrs. Nolan | The Medium - Baltimore Municipal Opera Co
La Cayetana | Rio de Mujeres (Armienta) - Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI )
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Featured Artist: Chamber Music & New Works
Music of Earth Tour (Russ Kaplan) – SPCPA, Nautilus Music-Theater, Bent Paddle Brewery, World Premiere
L’Infinito (Sattler) - American Composers Forum Salon, World Premiere
Evidence of Things Not Seen (Ned Rorem) - Peabody Institute, Baltimore Premiere
MacPhail Spotlight Series: Love Songs - MacPhail Center for Music
Maveh Barker Composition Concert – Guest Artist
Symphonic & Orchestra Performances
“Resurrection” Symphony, No. 2 in C Minor - Orchestra Hall, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra
Arts in the Park: Soprano Favorites (Puccini & Gershwin) - Bloomington Symphony Orchestra
Evening in Venice Grand Masque - Orlando Philharmonic
"Young People Concerts" – Orlando Opera and Orlando Philharmonic
Collaborative Highlights & Regional Highlights
Passion, Power and Peril Concerts - Orlando Opera Resident Artists Tour (Central Florida & Panhandle)
Songs of Innocence & Experience- KleinBank Summer Concert Series
Changing the Narrative- Journey North Opera Company
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Lecture Recitals & Research Performances
Literacy and the Arts:
Examining the Arts as a Literacy Tool - Minnesota Opera, Metronome Brewery.The Art of Storytelling - Minnesota Opera,
Minneapolis Central Library.Black Art Song: Lecture Recital Series | Works by William Grant Still, Charles Lloyd Jr., and H. Leslie Adams, The Blake School.
Selected Solo Recitals
Solo Recital: Pauline Viardot, Thursday Musical.
Solo Recital: H. Leslie Adams - Thursday Musical
Canciones amatorias (Granados), Thursday Musical
Frauenliebe und -leben (Schubert),Thursday Musical
"World Travels" Solo Recital – Easton Academy Art Museum "Music at Noon"
"Home Grown Soprano" Solo Recital – "Music in the Library" Series, Orlando Downtown Public Library
Benefits & Institutional Engagements
Love Songs: Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen and Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer, MacPhail Spotlight Series
"World Travels" Solo Recital – Easton Academy Art Museum "Music at Noon"
Songs of Innocence and Experience - Guest Artist Faculty Recital (with Christine Barron, clarinet) - Rollins University
Songs of Innocence and Experience - KleinBank Summer Concert Series
Annual Mu Phi Epsilon Benefit for Music in Minneapolis & St. Paul Public Schools – Featured Artist
Winter Park Musicale Scholarship Fund Benefit Recital – Featured Artist
Themed Concerts & Collaborative Projects
"Imaginary Landscapes" Concert: Ravel's Shéhérazade – An die Musik "Live! Concert Series," Baltimore, MD
"Viva l'Italia!" – Featured Artist, Cabaret Espresso Productions
"A Night at the Opera" – Featured Artist, Cabaret Espresso Productions
"From Classical to Broadway!" – Featured Artist, The Company Players
Let’s Create Something Together
Dr. Ilah Raleigh is available for leadership opportunities, performance engagements, collaborative arts projects, and media interviews and appearances.
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