Ashley Putnam's Chart

American singer, a coloratura soprano. She studied flute as a child and sang in a choir; at 18 she heard her first opera. Entering the University of Michigan, she majored in voice and made her professional debut January 1996. Achieving lead roles in both classic and contemporary opera, from 1978 she became known first in America and then in Europe. A tall, slender, regal beauty, her voice is proclaimed lush and lyrical. The daughter of a pharmaceutical chemist and American Cyanamid executive and his wife, Jean, Putnam moved to Princeton, New Jersey with her family when she was eight. She studied the flute in high school, encouraged by her mother who was a professional church soloist and her father, an amateur pianist. While in high school, she spent summer vacations at the National Music Camp in Michigan, where she played the flute in the band, sang in the choir, and performed in opera workshop productions. Her interest in singing grew after she heard a performance of "La Boheme." She sang solos in a Michigan production, and was urged to make voice her college major. Putnam enrolled in the University of Michigan, but continued to prefer the flute, practicing six hours a day and playing in the university band. She began to like singing on stage, and her flute study gave her the familiarity to sing major roles from Mozart and Puccini operas. In May 1974, she received her Bachelor of Music degree and in December 1975, a Master of Music degree. She was accepted as a summer apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera Company in New Mexico, where she learned dance, acting and diction, and additional voice training. She made her professional debut in January 1976, singing with the Virginia Opera Association in Norfolk. Her performance attracted notice. While rehearsing for her Norfolk debut, she entered and passed the district auditions of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council and later passed the Eastern regional auditions. She was declared a semifinalist, and in the final competition, tied for first place with a tenor. Before 1976 was over, she had toured Australia with other winners of the Metropolitan audition. Throughout 1977 she sang with regional opera companies. Her first international appearance was at the Glyndebourne Festival in England in the summer of 1978.