​​LEONARDA PRIORE (mezzo soprano) is at home performing both on stage and in concert.  Featured leading roles include Ma Moss (The Tender Land), Mother Abbess ( The Sound of Music), Augusta (Ballad of Baby Doe), La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Witch (Hänsel & Gretel), Katisha (Mikado), Lady Jane (Patience), Dame Quickly (Falstaff), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro), appeared in Un ballo in maschera and has garnered acclaim for her title role in Carmen.  She has performed throughout the United States with regional companies and with area companies including Rockland Opera, Regina Opera, American Singers’ Opera Project, Empire Opera, New Rochelle Opera, Central Florida Lyric Opera, Prelude to Performance and Chelsea Opera.  Her musical theater/Off Broadway credits include Nettie (Carousel), Mother Abbess (Sound of Music), Fanny Brice (Funny Girl), Mother/Grandmother (Little Red Riding Hood) and Suzuki/Billie Holiday (Hospice) with the Aulis Theater. She debuted at Carnegie Hall and has performed at Weill Hall as a featured soloist. 

​Leonarda is a native of Utica, New York.  She currently is actively continuing to perform while forging ahead as the co founder and producer of Chelsea Opera in New York City which is one of the most renowned small opera companies for its size.  They are in their eleventh season.

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Ms. Priore is a well-known, versatile artist that has performed in opera, jazz, sacred, classical and popular genres.  She has ​sung and performed professionally with numerous symphony orchestras and her oratorio credits include Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Solemn Vespers and Regina Coeli, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Faure’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Dittengen Te Deum and Beethoven’s Mass in C . Her numerous concert appearances include performances of the Berlioz song cycle Les Nuits d'été with the Five Towns Symphony, Respighi's Il Tramonto with the New Amsterdam Symphony, mezzo soloist in Elijah with the Hamilton College Oratorio Society and orchestra,  Dalilà (Samson et Dalilà) with Centre Symphony, mezzo soloist in Beethoven's 9th with Staten Island Philharmonic, to  name a few.  She recently was featured in a performance in May with Centre Symphony performing Joseph Canteloube's Chants D'Avergne, Book I and a solo concert of "More Songs for my Brother" in memory of Nicholas S. Priore.​  She was recently featured as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music with Central Florida Lyric Opera to rave reviews and Ma Moss in The Tender Land by Aaron Copland.  She  traveled to Italy  and was a featured soloist with the International Opera Center of Florida with renowned Italian tenor Andrea Elena.