Friday Music Series: Melissa Wimbish and Outcalls

MELISSA WIMBISH
Soprano and bandleader Melissa Wimbish is a genre-defying vocalist known for her ability to move between opera, art song, Renaissance polyphony, and pop music with alarming ease. She has premiered works for the stage written especially for her, most notably in the title role of JOSEPHINE by Tom Cipullo when “... the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish ... Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, [she] effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” (Washington Post)
In the 2024-25 season, Ms. Wimbish will perform the monodrama LA VOIX HUMAINE at New England Conservatory and will sing the world-premiere of Robert Manno's PORTRAIT OF MILLAY for soprano and string orchestra at the Windham Chamber Music Festival. She will return to Bach in Baltimore as soprano soloist in ST. JOHN'S PASSION and make her debut with Baltimore's Handel Choir as soprano soloist in MESSIAH.
Ms. Wimbish made her Carnegie Hall debut as winner of the NATS Artist Award Grand Prize. Career highlights include the 50th anniversary of Bernstein’s MASS at The Kennedy Center with The National Symphony, Alice in the US-premiere of HARRIET by Hilda Paredes at Yellow Barn Music Festival, Anna in Kurt Weill's SEVEN DEADLY SINS with Post-Classical Ensemble, her Baltimore Symphony debut in Ligeti's MYSTERIES OF THE MACABRE, and the role of Nimue in the Helen Hayes Award-winning production of CAMELOT at Shakespeare Theatre DC. Learn more at melissawimbish.com.

OUTCALLS
Led by Peabody Conservatory graduates and besties Britt Olsen-Ecker and Melissa Wimbish, OUTCALLS has become one of the most in-demand musical acts in Baltimore since their 2017 debut. Their ever-evolving sound and smart songwriting has produced three studio albums and several singles. The latest track, "Blast!" is a vibrant pop anthem inspired by astronaut Lisa Nowak. Beloved drummer and bassist Justin Kruger (PRESSING STRINGS) began performing and touring with the duo in 2018.

Olsen-Ecker and Wimbish have composed music for multiple film projects including the major motion picture CRISIS. Their interdisciplinary stage show RELEASE THE GOWNS, featuring a script written in collaboration with comedian Jessica Garrett, premiered at Baltimore’s Voxel Theater in 2022 and was remounted at CHAMBERQUEER's CONSTELLATION FESTIVAL in 2024. Outcalls has opened for dozens of major acts including LL Cool J, Khruangbin, Y La Bamba, Mumford & Sons, Kimbra, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Dessa, Wolf Parade, Say She She, San Fermin, and more. Outcalls has performed at the Kennedy Center, Camden Yards, Greenwich Town Party, and at the brand new M&T Bank Exchange Stage as guest performers for Governor Wes Moore’s 45th birthday. Their latest tour, SCORPIO TOUR presented a series of intimate, acoustic parlor concerts. Learn more at outcallsband.com.

Host or Publisher Georgetown University Dept. of Performing Arts