Biography

Samantha McGonigal is a mezzo-soprano based in Chicago, Illinois. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Otterbein University, and will graduate in June 2025 with a Masters of Music from DePaul University, where she is a student of Dr. Viktoria Vizin. Her recent operatic roles include La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Die Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), and Ruth (Dark Sisters-Nico Muhly). This Spring, she will join Opera Festival Chicago as a Young Artist, where she will perform in the chorus of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre rei, and cover the role of La Vecchia (L’amore dei tre rei).

Samantha has enjoyed several performances in concert and choral works. At DePaul, she has performed solos in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Giovanni Perotti’s Vespero, and in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. In 2023, she was a soloist with the Westerville Symphony in their performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana, and sang solo excerpts from Messiah on their 2022 holiday concert. Her chorus work includes Tosca with Opera Columbus, Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Te Deum with the Westerville Symphony.