Mezzo-Soprano Rachel Calloway is internationally recognized for her versatility and compelling insight as a teacher and performer, with particular distinction as an interpreter of new and contemporary music.

Calloway has appeared with leading orchestras and ensembles throughout the United States and Europe. Her symphonic repertoire includes major works by Gustav Mahler, and she has appeared as alto soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic, California Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and USC Symphony. Her 2026–27 season includes performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, as well as Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony.

A leading interpreter of contemporary vocal music, Calloway has performed Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Ensemble Signal at the Library of Congress, with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, with the Cortona Collective at the Akousticum in Ede, The Netherlands, and at Alice Tully Hall in New York. She has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Series, New York Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony, Ojai Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, Cal Performances, Lincoln Center Festival, and Kennedy Center under the auspices of Pro Musica Hebraica. She is a frequent collaborator with leading contemporary ensembles including the Amernet Quartet, JACK Quartet, Ekmeles, and Third Coast Percussion. In 2026–27, she performs with the avant-garde American vocal ensemble Ekmeles at Festival Montréal / Nouvelles Musiques.

Her operatic career includes her European debut as Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Opéra de Reims, Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet in Paris, and Opéra de Lille. She has also appeared with Opera Philadelphia, Glimmerglass Opera, Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, and Gotham Chamber Opera. Recent operatic engagements include Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Greenville Symphony and performances with the South Carolina Ballet in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Calloway is deeply committed to collaboration and the creation of new repertoire. With her husband, violinist Ari Streisfeld, she performs as Duo Cortona, an ensemble devoted to expanding the repertoire for voice and violin. Their 2026–27 season includes a concert and residency at Indiana University and a residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Duo Cortona’s work centers on collaboration with living composers and the exploration of new approaches to the voice-and-violin repertoire.

Calloway is also a member of Shir Ami: Song of Our People, an ensemble dedicated to preserving and performing lost and lesser-known Jewish art music. The ensemble’s 2026–27 activities include a year-long, cross-departmental celebration of Jewish music with performances at the Anne Frank Center and Temple Sinai in Sumter. Her commitment to art song and chamber music also includes a 2026–27 recital and masterclass at the University of Louisville and Queens University. Her commitment to new opera includes the 2026–27 world premiere of Laura Schwendinger’s newest opera, Margaret Fuller, at Symphony Space in New York. Her recordings can be heard on Albany Records, Tzadik Records, BCMF Records, Toccata Classics, and New Focus Recordings.

Teaching and Academic Appointments

Calloway serves as Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Spark: Music Leadership at Carolina at the University of South Carolina. She is co-director of the USC Artist Residency at Castleton, alongside Dominic Armstrong and Dietlinde Turban Maazel.

She joined the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy and The Netherlands in 2014, Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in 2016, and the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory in 2023. She has also presented recitals, masterclasses, residencies, and educational programs at universities and conservatories throughout the United States and abroad.

Calloway holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music.