Review from The City Choir of Washington's Mozart's Requiem:

"Urging on his chorus and orchestra, Shafer gave the Mozart a dramatic inevitability. The soloists were soprano Danielle Talamantes (a rising Metropolitan Opera star), mezzo Alexandra Christoforakis, tenor Norman Shankle (also a Met singer) and bass Kerry Wilkerson. I have heard countless fine vocal quartets in Mozart’s Requiem. But, so far, none have surpassed the higher realms of art that Sunday’s quartet reached. In powerfully burnished solos and seamless ensemble, the quartet voiced the overpowering, rapturous grief and piercing drama that comes right out of Mozart’s operatic writing."
Cecelia Porter - The Washington Post

Alexandra Christoforakis is a versatile, Greek-American mezzo-soprano who is equally at home in operatic, oratorio, and concert venues. Praised by The Washington Post for her “sensitive and sparkling” performances, Ms. Christoforakis is regarded as an up-and-coming performer in the classical music world.

Alexandra’s 2015-2016 season opens with a return to Washington National Opera in Philip Glass’ Appomattox and Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars. She will also be seen as Addie in Marc Blitzstein’s Regina as an Alumni Artist with the Maryland Opera Studio.

The 2014-2015 season began as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with The City Choir of Washington under the baton of Robert Shafer. Ms. Christoforakis then made her role debut with Washington National Opera when she created the role of Arezoo Jazayeri in the premiere of John Liberatore/Niloufar Talebi's opera The Investment, which was part of the American Opera Initiative. She then performed the role of Sister Catherine and covered the role of Mother Jeanne in Francesca Zambello’s production of Dialogues of the Carmelites, also with Washington National Opera.

In the 2013-2014 season, Ms. Christoforakis made a return appearance with the Cathedral Choral Society as a soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass under the baton of J. Reilly Lewis at the Washington National Cathedral. Ms. Christoforakis also made a return appearance at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah. New performance venues included Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Maryland as a soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria. Ms. Christoforakis also competed in the semi-finalist round of the Annapolis Opera competition in May.

Audiences have recently heard Ms. Christoforakis in concert with the Cathedral Choral Society as a soloist in the Mozart Requiem and with The City Choir of Washington as a soloist in Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Dettigen Te Deum. Other recent concert appearances include Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro and La Maestra delle Novizie in Suor Angelica with Baltimore Concert Opera. In the Winter of 2012, Ms. Christoforakis performed in nine different cities in China as a soloist with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, which included appearances on Chinese National Television.

In recent seasons, Ms. Christoforakis’ operatic engagements have included Fidalma – her most notable role to date - in Il Matrimonio Segreto with Aurora Opera Theatre, Pine Mountain Music Festival, and the Maryland Opera Studio. She has also created the role of Malacorpa in a workshop reading of John Musto’s new opera, An Inspector from Rome with the Wolf Trap Opera Company and the role of Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin with the Maryland Opera Studio. Recent concert engagements have included being a soloist with The City Choir of Washington (Haydn's Mass in Time of War) and Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde). Other notable performances include Brigitta in Die Tote Stadt and Alma March in Little Women (Summer Opera Theatre Company), Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro (Bel Cantanti), and creating the role of Mrs. Malaprop in Kirke Mechem’s opera, The Newport Rivals (Maryland Opera Studio.) On the concert stage, Ms. Christoforakis has performed noteworthy masses and oratorios, such as Bach’s Mass in b minor and St. John Passion, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Ms. Christoforakis has been a Young Artist with The City Choir of Washington, the Pine Mountain Music Festival, the Opera and Music Theatre Festival of Lucca, and the Bay View Music Festival. She holds a Master of Music from the University of Maryland (Maryland Opera Studio) and received a Bachelor of Music cum laude from New York University.

(October 2015)