Soprano Tanisha Ward has been heard in a variety of venues in her native Memphis, Tennessee and beyond. A former Artist-in-Residence with Opera Memphis and the winner of an Emerging Artist Grant from Arts Memphis, Ms. Ward has been seen in supporting and featured roles with several Opera Memphis productions including Aida, Tremonisha, Porgy & Bess, and Turandot and covered the leading soprano role of Euridice in Gluck’s Orpheus. She was Gretel in Opera Memphis’s outreach tour of Hansel and Gretel and was featured in a one-woman show entitled Black Roots of Opera for the company in honor of Black History Month. Additional credits include the Church Soloist in Playhouse on the Square’s award-wining production of The Color Purple, featured soloist in Art for Life’s Sake, and international tours in recital for D&P Joubert Worldwide. Ms. Ward was a 2016 young artist with the Druid City Opera Workshop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where she was heard in scenes as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.  She appeared as Lady Billows in Albert Herring at Ole Miss in the spring of 2017. She holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis and the Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).  Ms. Ward has been a frequent prize winner in regional NATS competitions.  She has appeared with symphonies, theatre's, and opera companies including, but not limited to, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Wind Symphony, New York Lyric Opera (New York), Carnegie Hall (New York),  Red Mountain Theatre (Birmingham,AL), Moon River Opera (Savannah, GA), and Hattiloo Theatre (Memphis, TN.).  In the fall of 2023, Ms. Ward made her company/ role debut with St. Croix Falls Festival Theatre (St. Croix Falls, WI), and with the Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra (Memphis, TN).  She will also make her debut with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Theatre Memphis in 2024.

 

When Ms. Ward is not performing, she is working tirelessly with her nonprofit Classical Melodies, Inc.  Its primary focus is granting access to quality, professional musicians and sharing Classical Vocal music with underserved/ under represented communities, particularly school-aged, at-risk children/ communities of color.