Biography

Praised as “fiery, wild, and dangerous” (Classical Voice North Carolina) with “a talent for character portrayal” (Chicago Classical Review), soprano Margaret Carpenter Haigh captivates audiences with her “flawless intonation” and “perfect vocalism” (CVNC). Commanding “expressive power, exquisite diction, and a clear, flexible voice” (Cleveland Classical), Margaret is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America. Her dazzling technique and formidable skill as a collaborative artist shine in performances of repertoire spanning from the Renaissance and Baroque to the modern day.

Engagements of note include the American premiere of Huang Ruo’s 12-voice tour de force of vocal-theatre and puppetry Book of Mountains & Seas in a collaboration between Beth Morrison Projects, PROTOTYPE Festival, and Trinity Wall Street; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the choirs of Trinity Wall Street and Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue; performances of Thuthuku Sindisi and Gregory Maqoma’s dramaticized work of vocal-theatre Broken Chord at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and an upcoming soprano Evangelista interpretation of Bach’s St. John Passion at the 2024 Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival. Recent solo recording credits include Israel in Egypt with Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire and Circé with Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra.

Past treasured performances include Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen with Arizona MusicFest; a newly choreographed ballet performance of Del Tredici’s virtuosic and whimsical masterwork An Alice Symphony with Portland Symphony and Ballet in Maine; performing Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres in the Easter at King’s Concert Series in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; tours to Israel, Germany, and France under the baton of Timothy Brown with Cambridge University choirs; and a Toronto début with Scaramella, presenting original work on Baroque physical gesture and the Ferrarese concerto delle donne.

Margaret has enjoyed performing Handel’s Messiah with Memphis Symphony and Winston-Salem Symphony; Bach St Matthew Passion with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Bach Akademie Charlotte and Messiah Festival of the Arts; Bach B minor Mass with Bach Akademie Charlotte and American Bach Soloists Academy; Vaughan Williams Benedicite with Arizona MusicFest, and Rutter Requiem with Evansville Philharmonic.

As a choral conductor, Margaret was Artistic Director of Nova Voce, Charlotte's premier women's choral ensemble, from 2018-2020, and Assistant Director of Amor Artis, an elite chamber choir based in New York City. She has held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, on Bach Akademie Charlotte Vocal Fellows Program, and at Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute in Quartz Mountain. She previously served as Director of Youth Education Projects for Apollo's Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra and has also held positions as assistant chorus-master to the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus and acting director of the Keele Bach Choir, Keele Philharmonic Choir, and Keele Philharmonic Orchestra in Staffordshire (UK); and she was selected as a conducting fellow at the Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Norfolk, CT.

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Margaret holds the D.M.A. in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University; the M.Mus in Choral Studies from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar; and degrees in voice and organ from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Recent scholarship includes work on physical gesture in the madrigal repertory of the concerto delle donne in late sixteenth-century Ferrara, and she is active as a voice teacher and choral conductor and lectures nationally on physical gesture for singers.

Margaret is a devoted mother, and when her daughter allows her two hands, she is also an avid knitter, yogi, runner, and hiker, and she enjoys experimental cooking and mixing craft cocktails with her husband Nicolas and beloved kitties, who enjoy participating when allowed. She lives in New York City and is a member of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.

Previous Education

Keele University
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Links

http://margaretcarpenterhaigh.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/margarethaigh