Dr. Mandy Spivak

Dr. Mandy Spivak

Voice

B. M., University of Miami
M. M., University of Houston
D. M. A., University of Miami

Mandy Spivak, a native of Miami, Florida has found success in concert as well as on the operatic stage. She recently portrayed Yum-Yum in Mississippi Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and has performed in multiple venues with the local company. Dr. Spivak was a featured artist at the John Duffy Composer’s Institute associated with the Virginia Arts Festival for seven seasons in Norfolk, VA. While there, she performed new stage works of rising composers such as Jake Runestad and Phillip Thompson. She has brought the title role in Puccini’s Tosca to life with Frost Opera Theatre and Amarillo Opera. Other roles with Amarillo Opera include Love Simpson in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Minnie in Wage of Sin for a KACV television production. Additionally, she portrayed Desdemona in the world premiere of The Bride of the Moor by Thomas Pasatieri with Opera Beaumont in Beaumont, TX. Her portrayal of Miss Lavish in the production of Robert Nelson’s A Room with a View was made available on the Newport Classics label on DVD. Other roles Dr. Spivak has performed include Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, Adina in The Elixir of Love, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief and Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

On the concert stage, Dr. Spivak has been heard in multiple performances with the Mississippi Chorus. She has also performed Orff’s Carmina Burana and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with Fairmont State University, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Saul with the Miami Bach Society, Schubert’s Mass in C with Collegium Cantorei in Miami, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Moores Symphony Orchestra in Houston, Texas. Other concert appearances include solo work in Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, the Solemn Vespers by Mozart, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Missa Cubana by Vitier, and Bach’s Cantata 140.

Dr. Spivak received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and a Master of Music degree from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Miami. An active member of the National Association of Teachers of singing, Dr. Spivak has held teaching positions at Miami-Dade College, West Virginia University and West Virginia Wesleyan College where she was Assistant Professor of Voice. Most recently, she was the director of opera and musical theatre productions at Mississippi College where she also served on the voice faculty. Along with her husband, Dr. Nicholas Perna, the two created a searchable database of the songs of British composer, Benjamin Britten. Their research led them to spend a two-week residency at the Red House, Britten’s home in Aldeburgh, England. The culmination of their work can be found at brittensongdatabase.com. Dr. Spivak currently resides in Clinton, MS with her husband and two children, where she is an active contributor to the local music scene.