A B O U T

Soprano Lauren Frey began performing locally as a young girl in productions at Point Park and Carnegie Mellon Universities in Pittsburgh, PA.  After singing primarily musical theater repertoire, Lauren began training classically in high school after her music teacher played a clip of Maria Callas in class.  Lauren gravitated to the “high stakes” emotions and plots of opera, and was also curious about the role of women in opera.  To this day, Lauren searches for ways that historically repressed or subservient female characters can still remain powerful, dignified, and courageous.

Lauren was recently commended for her performance as Musetta in La Bohème.  She "brilliantly negotiated the intricacies of her bel canto role with sparkling ease."  In her famous "Musetta's Waltz" aria, Frey "depicted Musetta beautifully," while her ensemble vocals were "absolutely stunning"  (The Classical Cleveland).  Cleveland's A Musical Eye described her performance as "saucy."

In her 2022/23 season, Lauren joins the Hudson Valley Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah.  This summer she will sing Rusalka in a gala of arias with Opernfest Prague in the Czech Republic.  Important recent roles for Lauren include Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Violetta (La Traviata), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro). 

Prior to several cancellations during the COVID season, Lauren made role debuts as the Foreign Princess in Rusalka and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.   She also appeared in concert with Maestro Richard Bado at the Texas Musical Festival in Houston.  Lauren joined New York City Opera in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, and was invited back for NYCO’s double bill production of Aleko/Pagliacci (Rachmoninov/Leoncavallo.)  She made her international debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Weimar, Germany.

By the age of 23, Lauren had already won the Southwest Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions.  She went on to receive the award one more the following year.  Lauren also received an award from the Philadelphia Orchestra and appeared at the Kimmel Center.  Other operatic credits include the title role in Handel's Alcina, Konstanze in Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Rossini’s Semiramide, Countess in Strauss’ Capriccio (partial role), Coaxer in Threepenny Opera, and Micaela in Carmen.

Lauren and her husband, tenor Chris Longo, live in Pittsburgh with their dog, Winston, and baby daughter, Sofia.  Together, they own their music studio and recording business, Frey Longo Music Studio.  Lauren is completing a Masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology.