Soprano who started out on the piano when she was six years old and developed an interest in cello and flute before concentrating on singing.
She graduated from North Star High School in 1996 and went on to attend Bridgewater College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. After graduating summa cum laude, she wed Jude Clapper and they relocated to Philadelphia, where her husband planned to further his education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Andrea did not pursue her own postgraduate work right away, opting instead to take a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she toiled as a tax accountant. She spent her free time taking voice lessons and performing with The Philadelphia Singers, at Carnegie Hall, no less.
She decided to advance her studies at Westminster Choir College, where she focused on education, vocal pedagogy, and voice science. While still in school, she got to sing at Lincoln Center in concert with The New York Philharmonic. In 2006, she graduated with a Masters in Music in the field of Voice Pedagogy and Performance.
Then Andrea and her husband packed their bags and headed for Asheville, North Carolina. It did not take long for her to find work. She flashed her resume in front of the General Director of the Asheville Lyric Opera and was hired within days. Soon she was the leader of the chorus’s soprano section, a member of the Victorian Caroling Quartet, a soloist in the opera’s outreach program, and an actor in several productions. During her tenure with the Asheville Lyric Opera, she has embodied the roles of Annina in La Traviata, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro.
As if she weren’t busy enough, she also opened Bella Musica Studios, which allowed her to put her graduate degree to work, where she teaches voice.
She is also a multi-linguist who speaks French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, which never hurts in the field of opera.
Here is Andrea Blough performing as Susanna in a performance of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro by the Asheville Lyric Opera….
Sources:
- http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2007/05/22/news/news723.txt
- http://www.classicalsinger.com/sites/index.php?pt=11&user_id=78818&pid=223494
- http://www.classicalsinger.com/sites/index.php?user_id=78818
- https://bellamusicastudios.musicteachershelper.com/studiohome