Peg Cleveland (Plambeck)

Peg Cleveland (Plambeck) has won acclaim for her warm and dramatic voice in a wide variety of styles. Of her portrayal as Hannah in The Merry Widow, the Cleveland Plain Dealer said,”…her phrases are spun with silver ease as Cleveland almost dares her audience to hum along.” Ms. Cleveland sang the role of Sophie in the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s opera, Mrs. Dalloway, with Lyric Opera Cleveland as well as regional leading roles such as Leila in Les Pecheurs de Perles, Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera, Eurydice in Orpheus and Eurydice and Konstanze in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.

Ms. Cleveland has also performed extensively in concert, with many oratorio solo roles under her belt. An early debut as Papagena in a concert version of Die Zauberflote with The Cleveland Orchestra led to several soprano soloist engagements with orchestras such as the Interlochen Philharmonic, Chicago’s famed Quintet Attacca and the Pacific Northwest Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.

Early tours of musical theater productions such as South Pacific, with Robert Goulet, were her “triple threat” training ground. Today she enjoys programming everything from the art song of Debussy to the Cabaret songs of Goldrich and Heisler, in lecture concerts with her husband, pianist, Tim Plambeck. Recently Ms. Cleveland appeared at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club as a guest performer with the Cabaret duo.

Ms. Cleveland’s voice students know her as an energetic and passionate teacher. Her teaching career spans 20 years to include private voice instruction, Italian, French and German Diction, opera scene coaching and direction, musical direction and performance pianist for several musicals, and choral conductor. Ms. Cleveland currently serves on the voice faculty of Carthage College, where she is also an assistant director in the opera workshop program. As well, she teaches on the voice faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp and serves as the primary voice instructor for the vocal arts concentration program at Lake Forest Academy. Ms. Cleveland received her Artist Diploma in Opera Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music; a M.M. in voice performance from Kent State University and a B.M., B.A.in vocal performance/music from the University of Washington.