Reviewers call her voice “robust,” “rich” “full” and “marvelously even-toned” and her vocal quality is described as “rare deep liquid velvet.”
Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce has earned acclaim across the country for her abilities, which are not only vocal, but theatrical. She has
traveled extensively and studied with famous names in opera, but in the end Ms. Pierce still calls the Olean area home.
Ms. Pierce grew up in Weston’s Mills with her grandparents, Duane and Josephine Dunbar, and her mother, Diana. A 1993 graduate of Portville Central School, Ms. Pierce was highly active in the community and forged strong ties with the area.
“I wouldn’t want to grow up anywhere else,” said Ms. Pierce. “There’s such an amazing sense of community … it’s just really special.”
For Ms. Pierce, this sense of community was what drove her to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional performer. She noted that she was constantly supported and encouraged by her family, church community and teachers at Portville Central School.
“I’ve always love to sing… (it’s) a way to express yourself and communicate beyond words,” says Ms. Pierce, who noted that her family is very musical and they were always singing, which is how she found her passion. Her passion, however, did not begin with opera, to which she had little exposure while living in Western New York. It began with a musical, “Once Upon a Mattress,” in which she performed while attending high school. “I was totally hooked,” she said of being on stage and singing as part of a production.
When she graduated from high school, she was given the most inspirational words she had received to that point, from Bo Lorenz, who was part of her church community. “He said, ‘Never let money make your decisions about what you want to do in life, there’s always a way,’” said Ms. Pierce. These words had profound impact on the young singer, who would soon leave for Ithaca College to study vocal performance and music education.
Ms. Pierce earned her bachelor’s degree in these fields and moved to New York City soon after graduation to take a temporary job at a private girls’ school. it was while living there that Ms. Pierce would have her first real taste of opera. “(I said) ‘I’m here (in New York City), I’m going to live it up,’” Ms. Pierce said, noting that she made it a point to attend as many performances as she possibly could while living there.
During this time she found herself at the Metropolitan Opera one Friday night. Exhausted from a week at work and finding herself in standing-room-only seating, Ms. Pierce was not fully paying attention to the performance of “Pagliacci” being sung by opera great Plácido Doming when she found herself moved beyond anything she had experienced before. “I was just listening…and all of a sudden I just started weeping,” said Ms. Pierce. “That was the moment that I went ‘I want to do that.’”
After her job at the school was over, Ms. Pierce move to St. Paul, Minn., where she took a job and began self-education in opera through various classes. “There’s a lot more involved with opera,” she said, noting that she took vocal classes, as well as dance, French and Italian classes.
Her effort eventually earned her a full scholarship to the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she would earn her master’s degree in vocal performance. She began performing professionally in opera before graduation, and continued to do so afterward.
At one point, she spent almost five years on the road, traveling from performing job to performing job, before she accepted a position teaching private vocal lessons at Ithaca College last year.
“I love it,” she says of teaching. Ms. Pierce feels that a lt of her students come from a similar background to hers, and that they are unexposed to much of the performing world, as she was. She hopes that through her instruction, she is opening them up to new performing styles. “My hope is that…they will now know more of what’s out there.”
Ms. Pierce feels that she also brings the unique perspective of a professional performer to her teaching. Whenever she is away for a performance, she feels like she returns with a “whole new set of ears” and is better able to serve her students. She stresses to each student that “you can’t just know how to sing, you have to be the full package.”
“it’s a lot of work,” she said of balancing her teaching with her performing. This fall she has tried to stay close to home, and noted that she has upcoming performances in Syracuse, Ithaca, and New York City, which is only about four hours from her home in Ithaca. “Doing things close to home is nice,” said Ms. Pierce.
To her, however, home is still in Weston’s Mills, in the small house nestled between the church and the post office where she grew up. “I don’t know if that will ever change,” she said.

On cover with photo: “Dawn Pierce, as the Contessa, is among the supporting players of the production who deliver memorable moments.” Inside: … Dawn Pierce, Renee Tatum, and Daniel Sengel deliver some memorable moments in limited stage time. Pierce is particularly memorable as the Contessa di Colgy, pathetically urging her guest to dance after the revolution intrudes on their merrymaking; and as the dying Madelon who gives up her grandson to the radicals.”

“The production features…mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce as Metella…From a purely vocal standpoint, the opening night show was a performance in which the female voices were a notch or two above most of the men singing opposite them. And leading the way in that respect was Pierce, who sang with a deep, rich voice that filled the hall and then some. She got the show off to a good start in the early going with her denial aria, “I don’t know them.” One only wished she had a larger role vocally as the work moved along.”

“Dawn Pierce gave Butterfly’s devoted servant Suzuki endearing warmth, her clear voice dramatically expressing all the fears that Butterfly denies. Together, they provided the opera’s most moving sections.”

“…mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce scored another triumph as Thisbe. Her robust sound was readily projected; it was throaty when communicating high dudgeon and soared evenly when expressing rage. Pierce’s flair for comedy was a contrast to her recent tragic roles for the Fletcher Opera Institute – Idamante in Idomeneo and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia.”

“Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce sang Idamante with warm tone and focused intonation. The Prince’s constant struggles among his love for his long-lost father, filial duty, and his newly-found passionate love for Ilia were bought vividly to life.”

“There is not a single weak member in the splendid cast of singers from the Fletcher Opera Institute. All sang without any signs of strain, everyone was at ease within the vocal ranges, and the diction was excellent.

Mechem poured the greatest depths in this opera into the role of Orgon’s long-suffering second wife Elmire. Dramatic (mezzo) soprano Dawn Pierce plumbed the core of this role, paying careful attention to nuances of expression and emotions. Act III opens with a splendid piece in which Elmire reflects upon men, women’s relationships with them, and an unromantic view of human loneliness. This would make an effective addition to any vocal recital. Poulenc-like, the composer pricks the balloon of seriousness and pops back quickly to comedy. Pierce’s attempts to seduce Tartuffe – and above all, her coughing signals to get Orgon to come out of hiding – were comic tours de force worthy of the best of the Marx Brothers.”

“Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce combined a marvelously even-toned voice and superb diction with total identification with the role of Irene.

Britten’s Rape of Lucretia Receives Vivid NCSA-FOI Production Posted: May 5, 2004 Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce brought a firmly supported voice, clear diction, and subtle acting to the role of Lucretia. She projected, at the outset, dutiful domesticity, followed by portrayals of a frightened hostess and then a struggling rape victim who then dealt with the wrenching aftermath of the crime, leading to her suicide.”

“Dawn Pierce did a fantastic job in the title role of Carmen, a sultry and seductive gypsy who plays with the heart and mind of a soldier named Don Jose. Miffed that she has no effect on him, Carmen tosses a rose at him during her break from working at the cigarette factory in Seville, Spain. Pierce’s voice was strong and soft and always full….

As the mezzo soprano sings in French, her thoughts are written all over her face. The set of her jaw. The posistion of her lips. The arch of an eyebrow. The intense, prolonged look with her brown eyes that unsettles the leading man…”