Biography

Songstress & Living Historian

Soprano, director, and producer, Brady Collins, has been hailed for crafting “uniquely authentic and immersive experiences” and “being a woman of MANY talents” (Made in Pgh). Having performed in many notable venues such as Carnegie Hall and Davenport’s Cabaret in Chicago, Brady is committed to broadening the repertoire and audiences of vocal art music and regularly engages in projects that bridge performance, musicology, and outreach.

Brady is an active recitalist and has appeared with Coraopolis Concert Society, Historic Bruton Parish Church’s Candlelight Series, and First Presbyterian Church in downtown Pittsburgh. She frequently crafts detailed lecture recitals and her vocal interpretations have been described as “simply beautiful” by WQED Classical FM. She is a frequent guest on WQED’s Voices for the Arts podcast where she has performed excerpts and previewed her historically immersive concert experiences.

Brady premiered the role of Norah Greenway in the original new musical, The Gift of the Magi by Paul Yeater with The Pittsburgh Savoyards. Brady has recently performed the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Vienna Summer Music Festival under the baton of Gregory Buchalter. While at the festival, she also appeared as the Bird Peddler in the premiere of Paul Richard’s Mondo Novo. Other performance credits include Edith in Pirates of Penzance (Pittsburgh Savoyards), Cinderella in Pauline Viardot’s Cinderella (Roosevelt University), Lady in Waiting 1 in the staged premiere of Paul Richard’s The Loathly Lady (Vienna Summer Music Festival), and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte (Manhattan Opera Studio). She has covered Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel (Vienna Summer Music Festival) and Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Manhattan Opera Studio). Chamber music credits include George Crumb’s Night Music I (Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at New England Conservatory), John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs with a full chamber orchestra (Duquesne University), Schubert’s “Dir Hirt auf dem Felsen,” (Duquesne University), and Lori Laitman’s I Never Saw Another Butterfly (Roosevelt University). In 2018, she sang the role of Anna I in her own production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s ballet chanté, Die Sieben Todsünden at Pittsburgh’s Bricolage Theater. In 2017, she was engaged with Manhattan Opera Studio. While there, she performed an aria and scenes concert in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Recent directing credits include, The Sorcerer (The Pittsburgh Savoyards), Dante 700 (Opera Festival of Chicago), and I Never Saw Another Butterfly (Roosevelt University). Notably, Dante 700 was presented to sold out crowds during its run. Brady worked with conductor Emmanuel Andrizzi to create a theatrical pastiche of selected operatic works inspired by the life and writings of Dante Alighieri.She was the 2021 Resident Director for Opera Festival of Chicago and the 2023 Resident Director at Opera North in July of 2023.

Brady fulfilled the role of associate director for Ella Marchment twice---Scalia Ginsburg (Opera in the Rock) and Il Segreto di Susanna (Opera Festival of Chicago). Her assistant directing credits include Carmen (Opera North) and Il Tabarro (Opera Festival of Chicago).

Regularly, Brady produces her own immersive German Kabarett experience: The Wild Stage (TM) in cabaret venues nationwide. She also delivers a Gilded Age spinoff—The Gilded Stage: A Musical Illumination. Sewickley Heights History Center focused their 2024 gala on this concert experience. In 2024, Brady was the fulfilled the role of production management assistant for Quantum Theater’s production of Scenes From an Execution. Brady holds a Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance from Duquesne’s Mary Pappert School of Music studying with Sari Gruber and a Master’s in Vocal Performance from Roosevelt’s Chicago College of Performing Arts studying with Mark Crayton.