Mary Ellen Assue, soprano
Graduate Assistant, Applied Voice

Mary Ellen Assue is a gifted young coloratura soprano, presently serving as the graduate teaching assistant in the Division of Vocal Studies at Florida International University, while completing graduate studies in Voice Performance.

Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, she began piano studies at the age of four, later adding violin study at the age of ten. A desire to pursue vocal study brought her the University of Miami, where she sang lead soprano in the Grammy Award-winning Jazz Vocal I. Her success at the University of Miami led to professional jazz engagements in the United States and as far away as Japan. She also earned the reputation of being a “first call” musician for studio and commercial work in south Florida and throughout the United States. Her acting skills led to the performance of numerous musical theater roles, including the role of Christine (Phantom of the Opera).

In recent years she has focused on an abiding interest in classical vocal music and opera.
Her remarkably high range and exquisite purity of sound have quickly earned her honor and recognition in local and regional venues and competitions, including First Place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition and an appearance in the title role of Lakmé with the “Amici del arte” opera company. She is also proud to be part of South Florida’s professional chamber choir, Seraphic Fire, in which she was the soprano soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor. In November, 2005, she will perform again with Seraphic Fire under the baton of maestro Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony.

Ms. Assue is an active member of the FIU Opera Theater program, where she has performed the roles of Belinda (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Despina (Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte), Madame Herz (Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor), and Lucy (Menotti’s The Telephone). She is a frequent soprano soloist with the FIU choral ensembles, as well as the FIU New Music Ensemble. She also recently had the honor of singing the soprano solos in a performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass under the direction of maestro Stewart Robertson of the Florida Grand Opera.