Ellaina Pauline Lewis

Soprano Ellaina Lewis is an accomplished soloist and collaborator who demonstrates an extensive range of vocal and dramatic ability. Her journey began as part of a richly musical family in Washington DC and has led to her current home in Seattle WA, where she is frequently seen on opera, concert, and recital stages. She has performed with Seattle Opera since 2011, most recently in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony Davis. Lewis has also worked among other companies including the Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Tacoma Opera, Seattle Choral Company, Puget Sound Opera, Everett Symphony, and as a guest of the Ladies Musical Club, among others. She has premiered the works of Richard Thompson, Huntley Beyer, Sheila Bristow, Steven Luksan, Myra Platt, Garrett Fisher, and Joshua Kohl, as well as several of the Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab artists. She recently premiered the title role of Cassandra in William C. White’s epic Opera-oratorio, which White composed with her voice in mind. The setting is the first of its kind in that it places the ill-fated priestess at the center of her own story. 

Favorite opera roles are Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Monica in Menotti’s The Medium, Treemonisha in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, and Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. Concert repertoire includes Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, Handel’s Messiah, and Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. 

Among Lewis’ recitals are The Human Family and From His Heart’s Deep Core, both at Seattle Opera, Music from Home and Black Splendor at Lakewold Gardens, and African American Spirituals and Spring Intermezzo, both virtual concerts for Tacoma Opera. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lewis composed and arranged two pieces, River Songs and This Time, Not the Next Time, which she performed live and eventually recorded for online listeners.