Margaret Ozaki Graves

Soprano. Performer. Educator.

  Welcome to my online home.

• Active soloist in opera, concert and musical theatre

• Regular gigs with LA Opera, Central City Opera, Denver Art Song Project, Inside the Orchestra

• Teaching appointments at Ithaca College, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, CCM Prep Department

• Member of AGMA and NATS

• Hobbies include Taiko, Koto, Shamisen, Food and Travel

Biography

Soprano Margaret Ozaki Graves is active in opera, concert and musical theatre. Upcoming gigs include soprano soloist in Dvorak's MASS IN D at the Denver Cathedral Basilica, December concerts with Denver Art Song Project and a solo recital at Lone Tree Arts Center entitled SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Recent work includes WEST SIDE STORY, Ricky Ian Gordon's ORPHEUS & EURIDICE, Mahler's SYMPHONY NO. 4 and Mozart's MASS IN C MAJOR, K 337. Since 2016, Margaret's debuted at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Steamboat, Arizona Opera, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Boulder Philharmonic and Aurora Symphony, and has appeared with the Colorado Music Festival at Chautauqua, the Denver Municipal Band and Inside the Orchestra. 

Margaret is a soloist and teaching artist for LA Opera's EduCom, a Central City Opera Touring Artist, a guest artist with Denver Art Song Project and an acting co-manager of Opera on Tap Colorado.

Favorite roles include Mimi in LA BOHEME, Lauretta in GIANNI SCHICCHI, Lilli Vanessi in KISS ME, KATE, Jenny in COMPANY and Suzy in WINTER WONDERETTES. As a member of Ars Nova Singers, Margaret was soloist in the world premiere of Granelli and Togni's WARRIOR SONGS at e-town in Boulder. She sang the workshop performances and recording of Jarrod Radnich's new musical MACAW and premiered as Atalantea in Luminous Thread's QUEEN VICTORIA'S FLOATING GARDEN OF SECRETS AND NATURAL WONDERS, a steam punk opera. During the summer of 2015, Margaret was a jump-in artist in Weimar, Germany.

Margaret is an alumna of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM: DMA & MM) and Lawrence University (BM). She recently completed a sabbatical as Assistant Professor of Voice at Ithaca College (Spring 2018) and was Guest Instructor in Voice at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Fall 2017). She also taught applied voice at CCM Prep Department, Lawrence Academy of Music and Sera Schools Music Programs, where she served as a director at the area and regional levels. Margaret's work on Japanese Lyric Diction was published in the NATS Journal of Singing and presented at and Ithaca College's Voice Intensive. Her research on Japanese vocal chamber music was presented at the Midwest Conference for East Asian Studies at Miami University. Margaret is a current contributing author for publications by AGMA, the Japanese American Resource Center of Colorado (JARCC) and Nikkei Today.

Raised in Golden, Colorado, Margaret was three-time prize winner in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild competition. Prior to college, Margaret was a professional Japanese taiko drummer, appearing at EPCOT Center (Disney World) and across the country as a member of One World Taiko and Mirai Daiko, an all-female ensemble that she co-founded. She holds ten-year teaching certificates in koto and shamisen from the Miyagi School and performed Japanese chamber music with Rocky Mountain Sankyoku in Boulder, Colorado.

Gigs