2025 Classical Award Winner: Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Mezzo-Soprano
Renowned for her “superb vocal and dramatic chops” (Opera News) mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms captivated audiences in the 2024/2025 season. As a core member of the groundbreaking The Comet/Poppea, she took part in the Lincoln Center Run AMOC* Festival with additional performances in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and more locations. Bottoms also covered the roles of Jeanetta Reese/Classmate/Officer/Judge in Chicago Opera Theater’s world premiere of She Who Dared, following a return to The Akron Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. She recently joined the Curtis Institute of Music as the titular role in the world premiere of Rhiannon’s Condemnation and was featured in the Portrait of Gabriela Ortiz.
In the 2023/2024 season, she returned to Dayton Opera as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd and headlined the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s The Unhealed Wound. She was also featured in Opera Philadelphia’s Composer Celebration (Rene Orth’s 10 Days in a Madhouse) and joined Opera Grand Rapids for The Last American Hammer. Other highlights include The Lives And Dreams Of Nikola Tesla with Experiments in Opera at The Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process and performances as the Cummer Family Foundation Chamber Music Series guest artist with the UNF School of Music.
Bottoms is an alumna of the distinguished Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera, where her mainstage work included roles in the Maurice Sendak production of The Magic Flute, Menotti’s The Consul, and the world premiere of Admissions in the Washington National Opera AOI program. She had a “dramatically and vocally glamorous” debut (Parterre Box) at the Opera Philadelphia O19 Festival as Smeraldina in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, and continued featured work with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, New York Festival of Song, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Emerging Voices recital series.
Prominent debuts have included work with Santa Fe Opera, LA Opera, Long Beach Opera, Cincinnati Pops, Moab Music Festival, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Opera Columbus, NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, Wolf Trap Opera, NYFOS, Buffalo Philharmonic, and IMG’s Our Song, Our Story tour with Damien Sneed.
Bottoms has been honored with recognition and awards from prestigious international competitions such as the George London Foundation, Loren L. Zachary Society, Operalia, Gerda Lissner, Opera Index, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regionals. She holds a Certificate of Professional Studies in Opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she was a coveted Kovner Fellow, and a Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Fredonia.