About
Vicki is a soprano with decades of experience teaching undergraduate voice and opera, as well as professional performing experience, giving her a depth of knowledge important for training today’s young singers. Her students are frequently among the winners and finalists in school, local and regional competitions and awards (National Associations for Teachers of Singing (NATS), Matinee Musicale, University Concerto Competition, Clef Society). In addition, her students frequently serve as section leaders with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra Chorus and appear in comprimario and chorus roles with Lyric Opera of the North during their undergraduate study.
As an educator, Vicki has served as Minnesota Opera’s Teaching Artist, Opera Workshop Instructor at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and Instructor of Voice at Concordia College, Moorhead. In addition, she has served as stage director and vocal coach for Minnesota Opera’s Summer Opera Camp and Opera Artist + programs, and as Associate Artistic Director and Stage Director for Summer Music Theater Camp in Minneapolis, MN. Currently, Vicki is a Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at UW-Superior where she teaches Studio Voice, Vocal Pedagogy, Vocal Repertoire, Diction, and directs Opera Workshop. She is a co-producer of the Superior Voices Benefit Concert series and is a recipient of the Distinguished Creativity Faculty Award at UW-Superior.
With over 60 roles and 80 productions to her credit ranging from grand opera to musical theater, Vicki has been acclaimed for her “luscious sound and comedic sensibility”, as well as her “soaring soprano” and “powerful voice.” She has performed several times with the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra in roles such as Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier, First Lady in The Magic Flute, and Sandman/Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. As a regular with St. Paul-based Skylark Opera, she has been featured in Sondheim’s Putting It Together, Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill, and as Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow. Other national performances include Musetta in La Bohème with West Virginia Symphony, Colorado Opera Festival, and Colorado Lyric Theatre; Nedda in I Pagliacci and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Western Plains Opera; The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Jacksonville Symphony; Sandman/Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel with Colorado Symphony; and Dircea in Casanova’s Homecoming with The Minnesota Opera. In addition, she has been broadcast numerous times on Minnesota Public Radio in live and pre-recorded performances, and has often appeared with her husband, baritone Jeffrey Madison, in recital and concert performances.
In the Twin Ports, Vicki has performed the roles of Musetta in La Bohème, the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Madeline/Isabelle in Face on the Barroom Floor, Violetta in La Traviata, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana with Lyric Opera of the North; as soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Frasquita in Carmen, and in holiday and opera concerts with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra; as Tanya in Mamma Mia! (Regional Premiere/NorShor Theatre Grand Opening), and Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins with the Duluth Playhouse; featured in Oh, Coward! at the Playhouse Underground Theater; and performed the world premiere It Rained on Shakopee with Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra. Vicki recently wrote a one-act music-drama, The Brontë Sisters: Retrospection with composer, Wendy Durrwachter, which will be premiered in November 2024.
Education
- Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) – Voice Performance, University of Minnesota
- Master of Music (M.M.) – Voice Performance, University of Colorado Boulder
- Bachelor of Music (B.M.) – Voice Performance, Concordia College – Moorhead