Full Biography
Mezzo-soprano Mindy Ella Chu grew up in Northern California where she was brought up in a Cantonese-speaking household. Escaping the hardships from the 1960s Cultural Revolution in China, her parents sought a better life in America and immigrated from Hong Kong to San Francisco—where the two met. She is grateful to them for all they’ve endured to allow her the opportunity to pursue the arts. Her earliest years were spent learning different musical instruments, singing in choirs, dancing ballet, tap and jazz, as well as Chinese folk dance, and performing in theatre productions. Mindy feels that dance continues to inform her approach to musical expression today.
Upon discovering music studies into her second year in college, Mindy quickly embraced the world of classical singing. After completing her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from San Diego State University and receiving several 1st and 2nd place prizes at local voice competitions, she went on to complete her graduate studies in chamber ensemble and historical performance at Yale University in 2015.
Mindy made her international solo debut in 2015 performing John Rutter's Magnificat and Handel's Messiah in Tokyo and Osaka. In 2017, she made her Carmel Bach Festival debut as a main stage soloist. Highlights of the 2018-2019 season include her debut season with Bach Collegium San Diego, a recording project with Stanford University and the St. Lawrence String Quartet in the Duruflé Requiem, and a performance of Francesca Caccini's Alcina with the GRAMMY award-winning Boston Early Music Chamber Opera Series.
Mindy’s operatic and stage performing credits include title role in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, Damigelle in Francesca Caccini's Alcina (first opera written by a woman), Speranza (cover) and ensemble in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Mei-li in Roger and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, and the American premiere of Handel's Parnasso in Festa in the title castrati role of Apollo. She also performed in the 2016 Boston Early Music Festival centerpiece opera, Campra's Le Carnaval de Venise, and understudied the main role of Leonoré in her time there as a young artist. At BEMF, she worked with Gilbert Blin, Stephen Stubbs, Paul O'Dette, Melinda Sullivan and Ellen Hargis to cultivate the physical and musical style of the French Baroque.
Her concert highlights include performing as mezzo-soprano soloist in Stravinsky Mass, Bach's B-Minor Mass, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Mozart Great Mass in C & Coronation Mass, Copland American Songs and Bach Christmas Oratorio (and Cantatas 4, 11, 146-150 and more), John Rutter Magnificat, Haydn Nelson Mass, O. Respighi Lauda per la Natività del Signore, Mozart Requiem (both versions), Duruflé Requiem, Zelenka Missa Dei Patris, and Handel Messiah and his Judas Maccabeus, for which she was interviewed by PBS as a part of a Religion and Ethics series.
As a choral artist, she has performed works such as Julia Wolfe's Anthracite Fields with Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bach's St. John Passion with JSB Ensemble Stuttgart, Arvo Pärt's Passio with Yale Schola Cantorum, and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms with London Philharmonia Orchestra. She has also performed with ensembles such as Bach Collegium San Diego, Apollo's Fire, The Thirteen, Gaude SF, Voices of Music, Cappella SF, Quicksilver, Yale Choral Artists, Tesserae Baroque, and was a part of the 2018 American Voices CD Release Tour with Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Mindy has recorded solo vocals for Disneyland Hong Kong. Discography credits include: “Duruflé Requiem” (Stanford University), "Fauré and other Sacred Works" (Hyperion), "Palestrina's Missa Confitebor tibi Domini" (Hyperion) and "Bach: Motets for Double Chorus" (American Bach Soloists Label). Chu was heard live in performance on BBC Radio 3 in the United Kingdom and WQXR New York City.
She currently resides in Santa Monica, CA and performs with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and The Industry opera.
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Press Photos
Photo: Kathy Wittman
Photo: Kristian Punturere
Photo: Adam James Foley
Photo: Voices of Music
Photo: Jonathan Slade
Press Reviews
Dido, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas
"The Voices of Music production had that problem knocked. Mezzo-soprano Mindy Ella Chu, one of two adults in the cast, was a powerful Dido, rich-toned and responsive to the words, which she sang clearly. Her two arias were the emotional tentpoles of the opera, as they should be, and she held nothing back emotionally, even in this concert performance, investing the line “Thus, on the fatal Banks of Nile/ Weeps the deceitful crocodile” with hurt and disdain in equal measure. She was equally good everywhere else. Full Review
— Michael Zwiebach, San Francisco Classical Voice, June 12, 2018
Soloist, Mozart's C Minor Mass
"In the aria, Laudamus te, we had an opportunity to hear the lovely voice of mezzo-soprano Mindy Ella Chu, whose clear diction and flexible voice brilliantly coped with more than one long and difficult melisma, while also making long trills and coloratura passages sound easy and natural. After hearing Lawson and Chu in the very effective duet in Domine, we came to one of the most..." Read Full
— Lyn Bronson, Peninsula Reviews, July 17, 2017
Apollo, Handel's Parnasso in Festa
“The anchor from start to finish of the evening was mezzo-soprano Mindy Ella Chu, who used her serene presence, suave phrasing, liquid ornaments and a pleasantly earthy timbre to give the dominant role of Apollo a gratifying sheen ... this was a calmly heroic performance all- around.”
— Steven Winn, San Francisco Classical Voice, August 16, 2016
"... singing with expressive vigor and moving nimbly through the role’s demanding coloratura…”
"Soprano Suzanne Karpov made a bright, elegant contribution ... she and Chu joined forces for sparkling accounts of the score’s two duets."
— Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, August 12, 2016
“She presented a solid mastery of just about every technical demand set forth by the composer, bringing an expressiveness to her execution that involved not only the music itself but also her technique in establishing physical presence.”
— Stephen Smoliar, The Rehearsal Studio, August 12, 2016