American soprano Penelope Shumate has received critical acclaim for her performances in Messiah with DCINY; 'Penelope Shumate sang the soprano solos with appealing bell-like clarity and surpassing sweetness' (The New York Times), and 'One of the best ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion’ that I have ever heard live' (New York Concert Review). She has appeared at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and has performed with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Distinguished Concerts International New York, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Roanoke, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera on the James, Opera in the Heights, and the Berkshire Choral Festival, among many others. She has received vocal awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, The American Prize, the MacAllister Awards, the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, and the Kennett Symphony Orchestra Vocal Competition, among others. Her oratorio soloist performance repertoire includes Messiah, Requiem (Verdi, Mozart, Fauré, and Rutter), Carmina Burana, The Creation, Te Deum (Dvořák), Symphony No 9, Ein Deutsches Requiem, Elijah, and her opera, operetta, and musical theatre roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Laurie in The Tender Land, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Micaëla in Carmen, The Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Hanna in The Merry Widow, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Magnolia in Show Boat.