BIOGRAPHY

“…EXQUISITE EXPRESSION AND GOLD-GLINTING RESONANCE”

BROADWAY WORLD

Renowned for her "superb vocal and dramatic chops" (Opera News) and "stunning vocal beauty and absolute sincerity of expression" (Chicago Classical Review), mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms continues to captivate audiences this season with performances at AMOC/The Industry LA, Dayton Opera, UNF School of Music, Skidmore College, and more. After a stellar debut last season, she returns to Dayton Opera as Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd. Following this, Bottoms will make her debut as Ottone/Fortune in Yuval Sharon’s groundbreaking Comet/Poppea, an opera by composer George Lewis produced in collaboration with Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan and co-commissioned by AMOC, The Industry and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. Alongside baritone Eric Owens, Bottoms will headline the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s The Unhealed Wound, presented by Skidmore College, and joins UNF School of Music as a Cummer Family Foundation Chamber Music Series guest artist. Earlier in the 23/24 season, she performed with Chautauqua Opera, Cincinnati Pops, Moab Music Festival, Buffalo Philharmonic, and IMG’s Our Song, Our Story recital tour with Damien Sneed.

Praised by the New York Times as “commanding with captivating texture”, and Opera News for “luxurious full tone and interpretive intensity”, for the 22/23 season Bottoms returned to the Santa Fe Opera to cover Carmen, followed by performances with Opera Philadelphia, Opera Grand Rapids, Akron Symphony, and made her mainstage debut with LA Opera as Fatima in the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Omar. Earlier in the season, she starred as Charlie Tyler in the Dayton Opera world premiere of Finding Wright and debuted as Leocasta in Giustino with Long Beach Opera. A proponent of innovative new works, Bottoms joined the first opera commissioned for a planetarium, Galaxies in Her Eyes, directed by Kristyne McIntyre and composed by Mark Lanz Weiser/Amy S. Pun.

In 2021, Bottoms was a featured Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, covering roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Eugene Onegin, The Lord of Cries (World Premiere), and performed Carmen in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Showcase. Her performances headlining the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago Fall 2021 recital series were met with critical acclaim - the opening performance, Songs of the New World, was named one of Chicago Classical Review’s 'Best of 2021' alongside the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the final recital, The Songs We Carried, received honorable mention. Bottoms also collaborated with the New York Festival of Song led by Steven Blier for several performances, including their return to live performance "And…We’re Back".

Bottoms is an alumna of the distinguished Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera, where her mainstage work included roles in the Maurice Sendak production of The Magic Flute, Menotti’s The Consul, and the world premiere of Admissions in the Washington National Opera AOI program. She had a "dramatically and vocally glamorous" debut (Parterre Box) at the Opera Philadelphia O19 Festival as Smeraldina in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, and continued featured work with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, New York Festival of Song, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Emerging Voices recital series.

Prominent debuts for Bottoms include Paquette in Candide with the Philadelphia Orchestra and maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mahler Symphony No.2 and Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the UCLA Symphony, Mercedes in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Songfest with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, The Brothers Balliett’s Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses at Carnegie Hall, originating the role of Frances in the world premiere of The Flood with Opera Columbus, de Falla's El Amor Brujo with Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and Anita in Bernstein's West Side Story with the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo under the baton of maestro Paavo Järvi.

Bottoms has been honored with recognition and awards from prestigious international competitions such as the George London Foundation, Loren L. Zachary Society, Operalia, Gerda Lissner, Opera Index, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regionals. She holds a Certificate of Professional Studies in Opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she was a coveted Kovner Fellow, and a Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Fredonia.