“Highest praise must be reserved for Lisa van der Ploeg, with her strikingly characterful and vocally rich portrayal of the maid, Maria. Boasting a huge, warm, round voice, van der Ploeg filled the stage with her presence whenever she appeared.”
(Maria in Bolcom’s McTeague from the NUVO Newsweekly of Indianapolis)

Danish-American mezzo-soprano, Lisa van der Ploeg has been hailed for her rich, warm, penetrating tone and electrifying stage presence.  She “delivered a glorious performance in the starring role as Santuzza” in the opera Cavalleria Rusticana.   Her first professional appearances included performances with Maestro Raymond Leppard and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in the Barber of Seville and the Three Cornered Hat.  A prize-winner in the Ellen Faull Gordon Competition, Ms. van der Ploeg was also a MET regional finalist for three consecutive years. 

The San Diego Union Tribune described Ms. van der Ploeg as an “uncommonly alluring Carmen with plush and velvety tone.”  She made her West Coast debut with the San Francisco Opera Center singing the title role in Carmen in the Merola Program, and touring nationally with the Western Opera Theater.  With the Opera Center she also sang the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Natura in the La Calisto, and was a Resident Artist in Education.

With the Intermountain Opera in Montana she sang Amneris in Aida with much success.  As Fenena in Nabucco and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Utah Festival Opera, the reviewers of several papers described her as a “standout” with “lustrous, ringing tones” and a “formidable presence onstage”.  She has sung several Handel operas including the title roles in Giulio Cesare and Orlando, Amastre in Xerxes, and Juno in Semele and Ottone in Agrippina. 

A native Californian, she moved to Denmark when she was three years old.  After finishing high school in Denmark she returned to the United States and began to study voice. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Ms. van der Ploeg recently sang the Dvorak Stabat Mater with Oakland East Bay Symphony.  She has been to Seoul, Korea to recreate the role of Julia in the contemporary chamber opera Bardos with the Seoul Contemporary Opera Company.  

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