2019 Alumni Professional Achievement Award Winner
An artist and educator, Delores Ziegler is one of the world’s most celebrated mezzo-sopranos. The Los Angeles Times heralded her as “the mezzo we have been waiting for,” and she has performed leading roles at the world’s best opera houses, including La Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.
Born in Atlanta, Ziegler earned her BM at Maryville College and completed her MA at UT in 1979. She first performed in concerts before making her operatic debut as Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata in 1978. During her career, she has held an apprenticeship with the Santa Fe Opera, opened the prestigious Salzburg Festival as Sextus in La Clemenza di Tito, performed as Dorabella at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and became the most-recorded Dorabella in operatic history.
In addition to her operatic accomplishments, Ziegler is recognized as an outstanding professor at the University of Maryland. She has taught students from all corners of the world, and those who have studied under her have gone on to every apprentice program in the United States and many in Europe. Every summer she teaches in the Oberlin in Italy program, an opportunity that allows her students to improve their singing and better understand the international opera world.
In addition to being internationally recognized by musical publications, Ziegler has received the University of Maryland’s prestigious Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award and UT’s Accomplished Alumni Award.
An artist and educator, Delores Ziegler is one of the world’s most celebrated mezzo-sopranos. The Los Angeles Times heralded her as “the mezzo we have been waiting for,” and she has performed leading roles at the world’s best opera houses, including La Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.
Born in Atlanta, Ziegler earned her BM at Maryville College and completed her MA at UT in 1979. She first performed in concerts before making her operatic debut as Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata in 1978. During her career, she has held an apprenticeship with the Santa Fe Opera, opened the prestigious Salzburg Festival as Sextus in La Clemenza di Tito, performed as Dorabella at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and became the most-recorded Dorabella in operatic history.
In addition to her operatic accomplishments, Ziegler is recognized as an outstanding professor at the University of Maryland. She has taught students from all corners of the world, and those who have studied under her have gone on to every apprentice program in the United States and many in Europe. Every summer she teaches in the Oberlin in Italy program, an opportunity that allows her students to improve their singing and better understand the international opera world.
In addition to being internationally recognized by musical publications, Ziegler has received the University of Maryland’s prestigious Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award and UT’s Accomplished Alumni Award.
