Amy Phrimmer

With MSR Classics label, Pfrimmer has released three recordings: Souvenance: Mélodies and Organ Works of César Franck, Eternal Life: Sacred Songs and Spirituals, and The Lost Romantic: Songs of Louise Reichardt.

Specific projects have included Schönberg’s expressionist mono-drama Pierrot Lunaire (Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra), Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915, the tragic title characters in Verdi’s La Traviata and Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly (State Opera Stara Zagora Bulgaria), and Mozart’s heroine Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Lawrence Opera Theatre Kansas). With New Orleans Opera she appeared in Bizet’s Carmen, Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld as Juno, Kitty Hart in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and the title character in Friedl at the National World War II Museum.

Recent concerts include the music of César Franck, St. Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Händel’s Messiah, and she has sung the Mother in Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors many times. National/international recitals include The American Twentieth Century in Song, Absolutely American!, American Summer Dream, and From New Orleans to Bulgaria featuring the works of American composers Amy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Carlisle Floyd, Moses Hogan, Rudolf Friml, Cole Porter, and Richard Hundley and Bulgarian composer Parashkev Hadjiev. With pianist Dreux Montegut, Pfrimmer created and performed a solo program Cabaret Soirée! featuring the American songbook composers Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Kurt Weill. She has been a regular soloist with the Marine Corps Band-New Orleans, and New Orleans Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, Pfrimmer has appeared in several French concert series: Vendredi Soirs at St. Pierre le Jeune and Les Estivales de St. Guillaume in Strasbourg, L’Abbaye de Royaumont, Association des Amis de la Cathédral de Fréjus, as well as The American Cathedral and St. Eustache in Paris.

In 2018, Pfrimmer revived Tulane’s Opera Workshop, directing and musically preparing students for their roles in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, followed by Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel in 2019.

She has sustained interests in sacred and liturgical music, the music and style of J.S. Bach, G.F. Händel, Giacomo Puccini, César Franck, Cécile Chaminade and Luise Reichardt, and a particular affinity for the French mélodie.

Soprano, Opera, Concert, Oratorio, Recital and Master Classes

Pfrimmer is committed to the education of young artists and brings a breadth and depth of experience gained from cross cultural collaboration and the international exchange of music and ideas. Her artistic projects have included opera, oratorio, recital, concert, music directing, and stage directing with her musical collaborations taking her across the US, Europe, and Canada. She has appeared in concert and operatic repertoire ranging from Schonberg’s Pierrot Lunaire to the sacred works of Dave Brubeck to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, La bohème and La traviata and Dead Man Walking to Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and The Merry Widow. In New Orleans, she is as a principal cantor at St. Louis Cathedral-Basilica where she is also liaison to the Paris Conservatoire’s Jeunes artistes organists. She in an advisory board member, serving on the production and education committees, of the New Orleans Opera Association, a company with which she has enjoyed a 30+ year relationship.

Review by Theodore P. Mahne: “…Soprano Amy Pfrimmer pitched the operatic equivalent of a perfect game…. Pfrimmer was a delight, picking off the string of high notes well. Her rousing cabaletta dazzled. Equally impressive was her gentler, pianissimo moments, which displayed delicate colors and rich emotion. As an actress, she stepped into the production well, finding a pleasing chemistry with her Alfredo.” - The Times-Picayune, New Orleans

Coordinator of Vocal Studies (2013-present)
Senior Professor of Practice in Music (2013)
Professor of Practice in Music (2007-2013) Assistant Professor of Music/Lillian Gerson Watsky Professor in Voice, Coordinator of Vocal Studies (2013-2019)

Presenting fully-staged productions, Festival of International Opera Italia offers summer intensives, training programs, master classes, with the goal to discover future opera stars and provide these young artists with a true international operatic experience.

Founded to promote professional training, research, and performance opportunities, as well as cultural enrichment for Tulane faculty, guest artist faculty, student singers, and community singers of all ages from across the region. The festival has included concerts, master classes, movement based singing workshops, research presentations, and panel discussions, such as 2023’s The Race for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Lyric Theatre.