Memorial Concert Honoring Carmen Balthrop

American Opera Singer, and former University of Maryland Educator, Honored A Year After Her Passing

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at University of Maryland is hosting a memorial concert for American Opera singer and Professor Carmen Balthrop, on November 20. The beloved Professor of Voice and Opera, passed away on September 5, 2021, at age 73 following a yearlong battle with cancer. She taught for the UMD School of Music for 36 years. Balthrop made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, having been the last of the first-place winners in the Metropolitan Opera National Competition in New York. Acclaimed by The Washington Post as “electrifying... a consummate performer,” by The New York Times as “a voice of power and uncommon tonal purity” and by The Miami Herald as “a rapturously beautiful voice”, Balthrop, a soprano, had an astonishing range of repertoire from Baroque opera and song to contemporary literature.

 The concert begins at 3:00 p.m. at the Dekelboum Concert Hall. Please note that this performance will not be livestreamed. UMD is inviting students, faculty, and alumni to share tributes celebrating Professor Balthrop's life and legacy. Location: 8270 Alumni Drive, College Park, MD, 20740.