"Took the breath away from
every listener." --Los Alamos 
Monitor
Lyric Mezzo-Soprano Wanda Brister has sung in forty of the United States and in eleven European countries. She has performed more than forty operatic roles with opera companies such as Opera Orchestra of New York, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Baltimore Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, New York Opera Ensemble, Annapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Connecticut Grand Opera, Jefferson Performing Arts Society, Lyric Opera of Waco, Shreveport Opera, Performing Arts Society of Acadiana, and the New England Lyric Operetta.
Miss Brister has been soloist with orchestras in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and has sung under the batons of such conductors as Krzysztof Penderecki, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Rutter, John
Nelson, Philippe Entremont, Arthur Fagen, Chris Nance and Leopold Hager.
Miss Brister grew up in Houma, Louisiana, attended Loyola University of the South and holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. She served as an apprentice with the New Orleans Opera before enrolling at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia. She then worked as an apprentice with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Having studied with such operatic luminaries as Nell Rankin, Beverly Wolf, and Enrico Di Giuseppe, Miss Brister completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, under the direction of Vocal Literature scholar, Carol Kimball.
She is an avid promoter of art song literature, specializing in research on English composer, Madeleine Dring as well as
French and Polish vocal literature. Miss Brister sang hundreds of concerts with the New York Vocal Arts Ensemble, a solo
quartet, from 1986 until 1996 in a variety of situations, including festivals in Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and a tour of
the former Soviet Union as well as a cruise for Cunard Cruise Lines through the North Atlantic. She is featured on a recording of Arabesque label with this group
(Strauss Waltzes for Singing). She has also recorded a CD of French Mélodies (music of Chausson, Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc and Satie), entitled
“Le premier matin du monde.” This CD is to be released on the Cambria label in November.
Miss Brister has sung at some of the great halls in the United States, including a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie
Hall. She has concertized at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center to name a few.
Prior to joining the faculty as Assistant Professor of Music, at
FSU, Miss Brister was Artist/Teacher of Voice at the University of Arizona, and on the faculty at Baylor University. She taught privately in the New York metropolitan area for several years.
In July, 2006, Miss Brister will be an
artist/faculty-in-residence at the Schlern (Italy) International Music Festival.
Miss Brister is married to Zygmunt Rachwal and they reside in Florida and New York.
