Interviews

Listening to Legends - Victoria Livengood - North Carolina Music Hall of Fame

November 24, 2020 - North Carolina Music Hall of Fame

Live interview with Victoria Livengood on "Listening to Legends". Victoria is a 1999 inductee of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. "Listening to Legends" is a livestream series by the North Caroline Music Hall of Fame. Hosted by Debbie McPhatter and Veronica Cordle of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Streamed live Tuesday, November 24, 2020.

Light Shall Lift Us: Opera Singers Unite in Song

May 14, 2020 - OPERA America

More than 100 opera singers unite in a song of hope and solidarity for a virtual performance of LIGHT SHALL LIFT US, a large ensemble work created by the Pulitzer Prize-winning team of composer Paul Moravec and librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell.

"I Am Easily Assimilated" Victoria Livengood on the old lady's tango from Bernstein's Candide [Video]

November 7, 2018 - Utah Symphony

From a cow farm in North Carolina to a picaresque adventure around the world to the Abravanel Hall stage, mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood can make you laugh anywhere at any time. Learn more about her role as the "old lady" in Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" in this video.

Victoria Livengood: From the farm to the Met

January 16, 2016 - The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

As Victoria Livengood enters the fourth decade of her operatic career, the Thomasville native can look back with pride on her many years as leading mezzo-soprano in productions across four continents. She performed her signature role, Bizet's "Carmen," more than 250 times, including at the Metropolitan Opera with Placido Domingo, and was a noted Delilah in Saint-Saens' opera about the biblical seducer. Livengood brought both roles to Raleigh for Opera Company of N.C. (now N.C. Opera) in the early 2000s.

Thomasville's Livengood to make her Greensboro Opera debut

September 15, 2014 - High Point Enterprise

Greensboro Opera will right an oversight with its upcoming opera gala, featuring Thomasville native - and Metropolitan Opera star - Victoria Livengood. "Even though she's from Thomasville, Victoria has never sung with the Greensboro Opera - go figure - so this is an exciting debut for us," explains artistic director David Holley.

Dixie Diva Dishes! Mezzo Victoria Livngood Shares Her iPod with BWW

January 14, 2014 - BWW Classical

Although the Dixie Diva is known principally for her Carmen (a role she's performed over 200 times worldwide) she is also one of the most sought-after singers of modern music. This season sees her in Benjamin Britten's rarely performed Noah's Flood, with the New Orlean Opera, as well as the American premiere of The Passenger, a powerful Holocaust opera by exiled Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, at Houston Grand Opera. She returns to the Met for Arabella later in the season, followed by Streetcar Named Desire at LA Opera. In between, she'll be doing Rigoletto in New Orleans and Salome in Utah.

The Reinvention of the Dixie Diva: Victoria Livengood Thrives In Act II of Her Career

October 14, 2013 - Everyday Opera

Long artistic careers are all about reinvention�think Picasso, Matisse... and Madonna. Opera singers with the right stuff keep evolving, too, as renowned, Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood has discovered in a new phase of her career that has her back in intense study mode learning scores of new roles. With performances this month as Herodias in Salome at Utah Opera and next year as The Fortune Teller in Arabella at the Met, among many more in her packed itinerary, the "Dixie Diva" from North Carolina is reveling in her transformation to dramatic and character roles.

A day of dazzle, razzle and awe: Baptist Children's Homes' 'Hope in Style' a magnificent event (Adobe .pdf)

September 29, 2013 - High Point Enterprise

Next came my amazement... the dazzle, the razzle, the awe. How could I have never heard the voice of Thomasville's "Dixie Diva" Victoria Livengood! The international opera star has performed her signature role of "Carmen" over 250 times. The mezzo-soprano was the featured artiste for Hope in Style.

Opera star gives to children

July 25, 2013 - Baptist Children's Homes

She may be an international opera star, but Thomasville native Victoria Livengood is still a southern belle at heart. Growing up on a farm and raised in a family of musicians, the Grammy-nominated performer has never shied away from her roots. She is often times referred to as the "Dixie Diva."

Arts & Culture: The Dixie Diva Interview (Audio)

April 1, 2013 - Our State North Carolina

Victoria Livengood was a farm girl from Thomasville who discovered her voice and became an international opera star. Our State's associate editor Sarah Perry sat down with her at her home in Mint Hill to talk about her career, her family, and why after traveling the world she chose to live in North Carolina.

Arts & Culture: The Dixie Diva Interview (Print)

April 1, 2013 - Our State North Carolina

As the towering buildings in New York City loomed over Victoria Livengood in 1985, the 25-year-old from Thomasville meandered through the engineered steel with a sense of purpose and her father's credit card in her back pocket. She wore jeans and a ponytail and spoke with her thick, slow North Carolina accent. And when she opened the doors of a jewelry store on Fifth Avenue and spotted a blue topaz necklace, she knew it had to be hers. Livengood told the jewelry store clerk she needed that necklace to sing at the Metropolitan Opera that Sunday, but he didn't believe her.

Having a Ball

July 27, 2012 - The Santa Fe Opera

Mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood has sung over 250 performances of Carmen's title role in her lifetime. She has performed at virtually every major opera house in the world. Her repertoire ranges from Menotti to Mozart. And yet, there are still places she has not performed, arenas yet to conquer. One of those arenas is The Santa Fe Opera. This summer marks Livengood's debut with the Company, as well as her role debut as Arabella's feisty, social-climbing mother, Adelaide.

Strauss' Arabella: As Confusing As It Is Beautiful

July 20, 2012 - OperaPulse

According to Met Opera mezzo Victoria Livengood, who makes her Santa Fe Opera debut as Arabella's mother Adelaide in the new production premiering Sat., July 28, Strauss's female roles are tough musically but "written beautifully for the voices and very singable." She finds some of Arabella's music "breathtakingly beautiful," adding that playing Strauss mothers written for mature mezzos is "dreamy."

Singing Gave Victoria Livengood A Ticket To See The World

March 14, 2012 - Charlotte Observer

Though Victoria Livengood has played "Carmen" alongside Placido Domingo, graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in more than 100 performances and serenaded Luciano Pavarotti, this Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano is as comfortable on a cattle farm as she is center stage.

Victoria Livengood TV Interview [Video]

March 8, 2012 - "North Carolina Now" - UNC-TV

Victoria sat down with UNC-TV's "North Carolina Now" to discuss her performance with Opera Carolina, in the role of Filippyevna in "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky.

Victoria Livengood dials down the Southern charm for Opera Carolina's "Eugene Onegin"

March 2, 2012 - Charlotte Magazine

Victoria Livengood is known on New York stages and in opera houses all over the world. The New York Times has described her as "naturally seductive and vocally alluring." The Boston Phoenix magazine compared her acting to Joan Crawford and her singing to Maria Callas, and the Buenos Aires Herald named her "one of the leading singer-actresses of her generation." But around these parts, folks just call her the "Dixie Diva."

Victoria Livengood TV Interview [Video]

February 23, 2012 - "North Carolina Now" - UNC-TV

Victoria sat down with UNC-TV's "North Carolina Now" to discuss her career.

Dixie Diva Still Dazzles

March 20, 2009 - High Point Enterprise

After nearly 25 years in the world of opera, including more than a hundred performances at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera, what's left for Victoria Livengood to accomplish?

Feature Article

January 1, 1997 - Carolina Alumni Review Magazine (Jan/Feb 1997)

The choir audition was an afterthought. One of Hill Hall's pet pupils, she went off to be a Mezzo-Soprano... and left her heart on the farm.