About

Soprano Anna Elder’s voice has been described as being, “ethereal” or “a voice that has blues, reds and purples in it” by The New York Times , having a “take no-prisoners energy” SEAMUS for New Focus Recordings or “a voice that could match, pitch for pitch, the grumble of a truck’s engine or squeak of a scooter’s horn.”-  Wilmington Star News. Born and raised in the steel city of Pittsburgh, PA and based in Brooklyn, NY, Anna specializes in interpreting and performing contemporary classical music that expands the traditional vocal performance practice and virtuosity. She performs with the new music ensembles SydeBoob Duo and Kamratōn. She premiered roles in the following new operas: Eric Moe’s We Crossed the River, Roger Zahab’s Hegemony, Curtis Rumrill’s Her Holiness the Winter Dog, and Julia Werntz’s The Strange Child.  She was a guest artist at The Tanglewood Music Center for their Festival of Contemporary Music, where she sang Andrew Hamilton’s “Music For People Who Like Art” with The New Fromm Players. She appeared in the Corningworks’ production of “with a shadow of...” as a stand-in vocalist for an ill cast member. “While an unanticipated addition, Elder’s superb voice and inclusion on stage was seamless and enriching.  Her sequence with Brenner, in which they perfectly mirrored each other while performing a particularly tasking and complex choreography, is so unspeakably scintillating that one could scarcely imagine it hadn’t been planned from inception.” -Pittsburgh in the Round.

Anna was the lead vocalist with Squonk Opera for three years and premiered Go Roadshow and sang in the Off-Broadway version of Mayhem and Majesty, where she was described as creating “a sort of persona that becomes tangible which takes shape and begins to define what unfolds on stage.” -Broadway World. Other engagements have included performing with New Music Detroit, appearing as a guest vocalist with Quince Ensemble, Carnegie Mellon’s Contemporary Ensemble, and Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. She has appeared on Splice Festival V, Festival Cultural de Mayo, Eastman School of Music’s Guest Artist Series, Music on the Edge’s Beyond Microtonal Music Festival, New Music Gathering, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music (SEAMUS), The International Federation for Electro-acoustic Music (CIME) The Pittsburgh Festival of New Music, Detroit’s Strange and Beautiful Music, Oh My Ears Festival, and The Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound festival. She has been in residence with the composition department at The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania State University, Duke University, Society of Composers Inc, and Lawrence University. 

This 2024-2025 season Anna will perform concerts and residencies with her ensembles Kamratōn and SydeBoob Duo. She will be releasing the record, Arnold Schoenberg’s Op.21 Pierrot Lunaire–Atonal Adventures in Stereo Sound with composer and arranger Aaron Wyanski on Speculative Records. In 2025 with SydeBoob Duo, she will be releasing their debut record Au Naturel, with support from Chamber Music America. She will tour with SydeBoob duo to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Maryland this season. 

Ms. Elder describes herself as a full service musician, often pushing the limits of the human voice and enjoys composing, improvising, and commissioning new music. Anna can be heard and seen anywhere from a basement to a concert hall.