Paula Newberry

Praised by the Russian River Times for having a “powerful voice,” Soprano, Paula Newberry, has appeared with opera companies, symphony orchestras, professional music organizations and churches throughout the United States, Italy, Germany and Austria. A native of Memphis, TN and a recipient of a Marian Anderson Vocal Scholarship along with many other vocal scholarships and grants, her career has taken her to Carnegie Hall, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, (Salzburg, Austria), Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium (Spoleto, Italy), The Benjamin Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA), The Gateways Music Festival (Rochester, NY), San Francisco Bay Area’s prestigious Art Museums, The Cannon Center, Germantown and Buckman Performing Arts Centers, Rhodes College and Rust College and more. She has performed with Opera Memphis, Como Opera Guild, Central Florida Lyric Opera, Petaluma Opera, San Francisco Children’s Lilliput Players, The Jenner Theater, Harrell Theater, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Germantown Symphony Orchestra and many more. Most recently, in 2021, Ms. Newberry started her own opera company, entitled “Rainbow Opera Enterprises.” The company will make its opera debut in August of 2023. Her opera roles have included Gilda in Rigoletto, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Amina in La Sonnambula (understudy), Oscar in Un ballo en maschera, The First Spirit in Die Zauberflöte, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, The Dew Fairy and The Sandman in Hänsel und Gretel, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore and Treemonisha in Treemonisha. Newberry is also an active recitalist and her art song includes works by Brahms, Strauss, Schubert, Debussy, Rorem, Xavier Montsalvatge, Hall Johnson, Leslie Adams and H.T. Burleigh. She has also served as a Classical Radio Broadcast Host where she hosted Morning and Afternoon Classics Radio programs at Arkansas State’s, KASU FM 91.9. She has a private voice studio focusing on opera role and audition preparation, foreign language coaching and ESL for non-native speakers of English. Paula Newberry completed her first Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Communications/Journalism and Voice) and her second Bachelor’s degree from LeMoyne Owen College. Additional vocal performance and Graduate studies include Certificates from Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg, Memphis Opera and Song Academy, Altamura/Caruso Summer Opera Theater, University of Memphis and Arkansas State University. Her various awards and grants include The Marian Anderson Historical Society Vocal Scholarship, The Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant, IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition (invitation), Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts, Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium, Music Export Memphis, Queens Opera Alternate Finalist, Attorney Theodore Medlin Vocal Grant, Beethoven and Etude Club Grants, Bellevue Baptist Bailey Music Vocal Scholarships, Congressional Scholarship from former Congressman, Harold Ford, Sr., to Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music.