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Biogragphy
Stephanie Pfundt is a soprano, chamber musician, lyricist, and composer. She has garnered competition recognition with a 1st place win in the 2024 Seattle Opera Guild Competition, numerous prizes in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and as a quarterfinalist in the 2023 Elizabeth Connell Prize.
Pfundt’s 24-25 season included her role debut as Anna in Puccini's Le villi with the New Opera Company of Boston, a production which she coproduced at the Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts. Her 2023-24 season with Skyline Opera featured scene performances as Michaëla in Carmen, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Salome in Herodiade, and the title roles in Thaïs and Alcina. Previous roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up with Boston University’s Opera Institute as well as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro and Johanna in Sweeney Todd at Pacific Lutheran University. She also portrayed the Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte with the German Vocal Arts Institute.
A devotee of poetry and chamber music, Pfundt recently toured the Pacific Northwest with longtime collaborative partner Reid Wolch, presenting a program of Wagner, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and classical improvisation. She produced and performed a recital of Lili Boulanger’s Clairières dans le ciel with pianist Pierre-Nicolas Colombat in Boston. Her chamber music accolades include prizes in the 2019 and 2023 NATS Artist Award Competitions, and she was named the 2022 Ted Stevens Young Alaskan Artist, leading to a recital with the Anchorage Festival of Music. She has performed in masterclasses with luminaries such as Kathleen Kelly, Arlene Shrut, Tamera Wilson, and Warren Jones at the 2023 Source Song Festival, in collaboration with Iranian pianist Soroush Sadeghi.
a homegrown conversation....
Born into a commercial fishing family in Petersburg, Alaska, Pfundt spent many years on the water before earning her degree from Pacific Lutheran University and completing a master’s in vocal performance at Boston University. A composer and lyricist, her debut song cycle Ocean Airs for soprano and piano (featuring extended techniques) earned her admission to a second master’s program in composition at BU. Her compositional voice has been praised by Tom Cipullo as “sensitive, personal… a real individual voice.” At the forefront of the classical improvisation movement, she champions creative agency for performers. Her 2024 collaboration with cellist Sebastian Baverstam led to the creation, production, and performance of WATERWOMAN, a 20-minute improvised opera for soprano, piano, and electronics that epitomizes her bold, genre-defying approach to contemporary classical music.
Pfundt’s first chamber opera, The Stikine Method, is a mythic roast set in a magical-realist Alaska. It blends bluegrass, pop, electronics, and stand up comedy within a classical framework and will be workshopped in Boston spring of 2026.
stephanie pfundt
© 2025 Stephanie Pfundt
