- brooksjo@uwm.edu
- Music Building 361
- She / Her
Colleen Brooks
- Teaching Faculty II, Voice & Opera Theatre
Education
DMA, Vocal Performance, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
MM, Vocal Performance, Indiana University
BS, Vocal Performance & Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Biography
Colleen Brooks, mezzo-soprano, performs in North America, Europe and Asia in addition to the greater Milwaukee community.
Dr. Brooks has been a member of the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 2013 and currently teaches Lessons in Voice at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She completed her DMA in vocal performance at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati, OH. She holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University as well as bachelor’s degrees in both vocal performance and biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Brooks was an apprentice artist with Florentine Opera for their 2008-09 season where she performed the roles of Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Third Lady (The Magic Flute) and was most recently heard there as Celeste in their 2024 production of Songbird. Additional roles performed include Dora Marx in the world and Thailand premieres of The Snow Dragon, Wagner’s Mezzos in The Skylight Ring, Isabelle Eberhardt in Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar, Queen Chandra Devi in the European tour of The Silent Prince, Azucena, Rosina, Donna Elvira, Ježibaba, Hansel, Garcias in Tulsa Opera’s Don Quichotte, Nora in Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea, Catherine in A View from the Bridge, Piramo in Piramo e Tisbe, and Mrs. Webb in a workshop performance of Rorem’s Our Town.
Dr. Brooks has had the privilege of coaching with current American composers such as William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, Thomas Pasatieri, Ned Rorem and Somtow Sucharitkul and performed with Mr. Heggie at the Grandin Music Festival in Cincinnati in 2006. She was a Wisconsin District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Competition in 2009 and a participant in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program in the summer of 2010.
2024-25 performances
- Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra Holiday Concert (Mezzo-soprano Soloist)
- Plymouth Church, Fri Dec 7 @7:00pm
- Waukesha Civic Theatre, Sat Dec 8 @2:00pm
- Chamber Music Milwaukee Concert (Mezo-soprano Soloist)
- Recital Hall (MUS 175), Thurs Dec 12 @7:30pm
- Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s Rusalka (Ježibaba)
- Danceworks, Feb 14-24 (times TBD)