Margaret Carpenter Haigh
Director of Artistic Planning
Praised as “fiery, wild, and dangerous” (Classical Voice North Carolina) with “a talent for character portrayal” (Chicago Classical Review), soprano Margaret Carpenter Haigh captivates audiences with her “flawless intonation” and “perfect vocalism” (CNVC). Treasured performances include the American premiere of Huang Ruo’s 12-voice tour de force of vocal-theatre and puppetry Book of Mountains & Seas; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the choirs of Trinity Wall Street and Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue; Thuthuku Sindisi and Gregory Maqoma’s dramaticized Broken Chord at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; the eco-cantata A Forest Unfolding, inspired by Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory, with NOVUS NY; a newly choreographed ballet performance of Del Tredici’s virtuosic and whimsical masterwork An Alice Symphony with Portland Symphony and Ballet in Maine; and Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres in the Easter at King’s Concert Series in King’s College Chapel (Cambridge). Spring 2024 highlights include a soprano Evangelista interpretation of Bach’s St. John Passion at the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, performances of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beate Virgine with Bach Akademie Charlotte and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and a program of Lully and Charpentier grand motets with Washington Bach Consort. Recent solo recording credits include Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire and Desmarest’s Circé with Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra.
A native of Charlotte, Margaret is a grateful recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and holds the M.Mus from the University of Cambridge and the D.M.A. in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University, where her dissertation was supervised by Susan McClary. She is a proud graduate of the UNC-Greensboro College of Visual and Performing Arts. Recent scholarship includes work on physical gesture in the madrigal repertory of the concerto delle donne in late sixteenth-century Ferrara, and she is active as a voice teacher and choral conductor. She has lectured widely, including at Case Western Reserve University, University of Iowa, Harvard University, Peabody Institute, and Indiana University, and has served on the faculty of the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. Margaret is a devoted mother, and in the brief moments when her daughter allows her two hands, she is an avid knitter, yogi, runner, and hiker, and she enjoys experimental cooking and mixing craft cocktails with her husband Nicolas and beloved kitties, who enjoy participating when allowed. She manages the music office of Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue and is a member of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.
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