Mezzo-soprano Donna Breitzer enjoys a varied career as a singer, voice teacher and arts administrator in New York City. A member of the Extra Chorus of The Metropolitan Opera since 2014, she has also performed solo roles with several New York City opera companies including Dicapo Opera Theatre, American Lyric Theater, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, and Opera Manhattan, among others. 

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Recent performance highlights include solo appearances with the American Classical Orchestra and the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, and as a recurring featured performer in New York Festival of Song's beloved annual holiday cabaret, A Goyishe Christmas to You! She has given recitals for the American Society of Jewish Music and the Art Song at Old Stone House series in Brooklyn, and has appeared as a soloist with the St. George's Choral Society, Nashoba Valley Chorale, Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, and Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus, among others, and as a guest artist with renowned vocal ensemble The Western Wind.

 

An active ensemble singer, Donna performs regularly with top professional groups including Voices of Ascension, the Bard Festival Chorale, and New York Virtuoso Singers, and in the choruses of distinguished orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra and the American Classical Orchestra, among others. An in-demand church musician, she is a former member of the acclaimed choir of St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, and is a regular guest of many of NYC's premiere professional church ensembles.

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Donna was praised by the New York Times for offering “solid work” and by Opera News for singing “strongly and with character” in her role as Assunta in The Saint of Bleecker Street with Dicapo Opera, where she was a Resident Artist for two season. She has participated as an Apprentice Artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor, and spent two summers at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. She has performed with American Lyric Theater (NYC), Opera Providence, American Repertory Theater (Boston, MA) and the Encore Theatre Company in Jerusalem, and is a former member of the Handel and Haydn Society’s Educational Outreach Quartet based in Boston.

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Originally from Saratoga, CA, Donna earned both a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan, as well as a Master of Music degree in Voice from the New England Conservatory of Music. In May of 2024 she will earn an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy from NYU Steinhardt, where she also serves as Adjunct Instructor of Voice. In addition to her work at NYU, Donna has enjoyed teaching private voice lessons for over 25 years, and currently maintains a teaching studio in New York City. Until 2024, she was the Executive Director of Five Boroughs Music Festival, a chamber music presenting organization in NYC which she co-founded in 2007. Donna currently resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her husband, Cantor Joshua Breitzer, and their sons Jonah and Gideon.