press kit
“The real highlight was Laura Thoreson’s radiant solo... It was strong, colorful, expressive, and absolutely golden — one of the very best mezzo voices that I’ve ever heard in Portland.”
Hailed as “one of the loveliest voices in the Northwest” (Oregon ArtsWatch), contralto Laura Beckel Thoreson enjoys a widely varied singing career in the USA and abroad, spanning opera, oratorio, recital, and ensemble performances. She has appeared as a solo guest artist with such groups as Portland Opera, Eugene Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Augusta Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Oregon Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Oregon Sinfonietta, Orchestra Seattle, Newport Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, San Juan Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and more, and has performed internationally in Canada, England, Scotland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. An avid proponent of new music, she is a frequent collaborator with composers and ensembles, participating in world premiere performances and appearing on Billboard Top-Ten recordings. Beckel Thoreson is a founding member of Portland’s Northwest Art Song organization, and a frequent guest on All-Classical 89.9’s live radio program, Thursdays @ Three.
A graduate of Central Washington University and Indiana University’s prestigious Jacobs School of Music, Beckel Thoreson was a member of the voice faculty at the University of Portland for four years, and is now a Professor of Voice at Clark College in her hometown of Vancouver, WA, where she also maintains a private voice studio.
“It remains only to praise alto Laura Beckel Thoreson for one of the loveliest voices in the Northwest.”