Sherezade Panthaki
Soprano
Biography
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki enjoys an international career in music of the Baroque and beyond, collaborating with many of the world’s leading interpreters including Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas Kraemer, Mark Morris, and Matthew Halls.
Recent and upcoming seasons include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Bach Collegium Japan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Wiener Akademie (Austria), NDR Hannover Radiophilharmonie (Germany), the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Canada), Calgary Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, The San Francisco Early Music Festival, Music of the Baroque (Chicago), Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Musica Angelica (Los Angeles). Ms. Panthaki’s discography includes Handel Joseph and his Brethren as well as Saul with Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
Firmly at home in the numerous Baroque oratorios, operas, and cantatas of Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Purcell, and Monteverdi, Ms. Panthaki is no stranger to 19th, 20th and 21st century concert repertoire as soprano soloist. She is widely acclaimed for her interpretations of Brahms Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn Elijah, and Poulenc Gloria; notable among her new music premieres is the soprano role of Emily Dickinson in Martin Bresnick’s oratorio Passions of Bloom. Ms. Panthaki is a founding member of and Artistic Advisor to the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, celebrating excellence and racial diversity in early and new music.
An active and passionate music educator, Ms. Panthaki is frequently called upon to present vocal masterclasses at Universities and Arts Schools across the United States. She has taught at Yale University for a number of years and served as the Christoph Wolff Visiting Performer at the Harvard University Department of Music. She currently heads the Vocal program at Mount Holyoke College.
Born and raised in India, Ms. Panthaki began her musical education at an early age as a pianist. She holds an Artist Diploma with top honors from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where she was the winner of multiple awards of distinction. She earned a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Sherezade Panthaki is represented for Management in Europe and Scandinavia. For all enquiries please contact Caroline Phillips cphillips@caroline-phillips.co.uk
Reviews
Bach – Cantata BWV 36 – American Classical Orchestra
…soprano Sherezade Panthaki’s vocal resplendence, especially her sumptuous, floating high notes, was at one with the resounding spirit of God’s majesty of which she sang.
New York Classical Review, 3 March 2023
Bach Collegium San Diego – Blow – Venus and Adonis – Venus
Valenzuela struck gold casting Sherezade Panthaki as Venus. The singer’s fresh, clear soprano with only ahint of vibrato bloomed gloriously in her upper register, and when called on to execute flashy fioritura, she triumphed.
San Diego Story, 24 October 2022
Handel – Joseph and his Brethren – Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/ Nicholas McGegan – CD review
The second great strength of this recording is the Asenath of Sherezade Panthaki; as fine as Yvonne Kenny is for King, Panthaki is even better, with a voice of requisite beauty and technique, and artistry to burn. Only recently has she begun to appear in recordings, but expect to hear much, much more of her soon, if there is any justice in the world.
Fanfare Magazine, 6 August 2019
Handel – Samson – NDR Radiophilharmonie
Panthaki sings her most daring and brilliant aria in this performance of Handel’s “Samson”—and thereby totally delights colleagues and audience alike.
No wonder that this woman—according to the libretto — slays seemingly invincible Samson’s strength: with her exuberant virtuosity, with her elegance and her powerful radiance, Panthaki is a new, trailblazing type among the female singers of old music — she is a highly dramatic soprano of the Baroque, an “Isolde” in one of Handel’s oratorios. When she sings, it is not simply an aria, it is an event.
Hannoversche Allgemeine, 22 June 2019
Handel – Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne – Princeton Pro Musica
It takes an unusual singer to fill the Chapel acoustic as a soloist, and especially in the upper registers, Panthaki’s voice was clear all the way to the last pew. Panthaki had her superstar moment singing Handel’s ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine,’ an aria from the composer’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, originally composed for solo alto and trumpet which has been recently heard more in the soprano world. This aria is loaded with long melodic lines, sustained ornaments, and a demand for almost superhuman vocal stamina. Singing from memory, Panthaki had no trouble drawing out the lines with perfect control over the aria and space … sent vocal sound soaring into the rafters of the Chapel … [and] mesmerized the audience throughout the aria.
Town Topics, 8 May 2019
Bach – Ascension Oratorio – Calgary Philharmonic
Panthaki’s voice is a force of nature and quite exceptional, as indeed is her remarkably accurate tuning and the evident ease with which she tossed off even the most difficult passages.
Calgary Herald, 4 May 2019
Handel – Saul – Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki brought her trademark clarity and tonal sensuality to the role of Michal.
SF Datebook, 7 April 2019
Handel – Saul – Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
As Michal, soprano Sherezade Panthaki, was outstanding. Her command of elaborate coloratura passages is almost beyond belief. Yet Panthaki can also be softly sweet- voiced when the libretto calls for it.
Berkeley Daily Planet, 9 April 2019
Orff – Carmina Burana – Bach Festival Society of Central Florida
Soloists added to the work’s thrilling surprises: Soprano Sherezade Panthaki, warm in her lower register before hitting the stratosphere…
Orlando Sentinel, 12 October 2018
Handel – Atalanta – Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Then we come to Ms. Panthaki herself … this Atalanta was athletic, rugged, the goddess-hunter, the sister of Diana, Superwoman and Gloria Steinem. And wow! Did she sing those Handel arias like she would tear down the Venetian Theater tent!
ConcertoNet, 22 July 2018
