From bel canto to "can belt-o" and everything in between, Rebekah Howell is making her mark as an artist who enjoys versatility. Her budding career showcases her adaptability and passion for storytelling through many art form, including opera, theatre, and musical theatre.

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Rebekah’s schedule in the 2023-24 season reflects her love of variety. In October, she sang Nannetta in Falstaff with Knoxville Opera. In April, she returns to be featured in Studio Tenn’s One Night Only Gala in April, reprising her rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” from their recent production of The Sound of Music. She will be based in Virginia for the majority of the spring and summer. In May, she will debut the roles of Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Opera in Williamsburg. She will also be featured in Charlottesville Opera’s summer festival, covering Adina in L’elisir d’amore and as Zaneeta Shinn/Mrs. Squires (cover) in The Music Man.

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Rebekah Howell has been a very active member of the theatre community of Middle Tennessee since 2021, most recently featured as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music (Studio Tenn). She was nominated for Best Featured Performer in a Musical by Broadway World Nashville, and earned high praise for her portrayal: “Howell’s exquisite voice… will make you yearn to hear her sing “Climb Every Mountain” for the rest of your life.” (Broadway World) Other recent theatre credits include The Witch in Into the Woods (Audience Of One), Grand Duchess Olga Katrina in You Can’t Take it With You (Springhouse Theatre Company), and Ethel Toffelmier in The Music Man (Springhouse Theatre Company).

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In 2020, Rebekah performed with Nashville Opera as an Artist in Residence, where she helped create their first online touring production as Despina in The Three Little Pigs. She was also a featured soloist in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's 40th Anniversary Virtual Gala as well as the Middle Tennessee Choral Society's Opera to Broadway Concert. 

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During the 2018–19 season, Howell was a frequent performer in Denver as the resident soprano with Opera Colorado, performing the roles of Annina in La traviata, Barbarina and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. In addition, she was prominently featured as Girl in Tom Cipullo’s After Life, which was an on-site joint production with the Kirkland Museum of Fine Arts. Portraying one of three characters in the new chamber opera, Howell earned praise for her interpretation: “Rebekah Howell was a suitably sweet Girl, singing Cipullo’s taxing soprano lines with ease.” (Opera News)

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In the summer of 2018, Howell made two role debuts with Chautauqua Opera under the baton of Maestro Steven Osgood. First, as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, she “captured the mix of innocence and vacillation that characterizes Zerlina.” (The Chautauquan Daily) Later in the summer season, she also captivated audiences as Cunegonde in Candide. Guest critic Tom DiNardo gave her high praise, especially for her interpretation of “Glitter and be gay”: “you won’t ever hear it sung better than in Howell’s rendition.” (The Chautauquan Daily)

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During the 2017-18 season, Howell made her role debut as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute in October with Opera Louisiàne. In the summer of 2017, Howell was prominently featured as a Studio Artist at Chautauqua Opera where she performed the world premiere of composer-in-residence Gity Razaz’s setting of Edward Leer’s “The Broom, the Shovel, the Poker and the Tongs.” Howell also covered and performed scenes as Norina in Don Pasquale, and she sang Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in the Studio Scenes Program. At the end of the season, Howell was awarded the Jay Lesenger Award, along with an invitation to return to work with the company during the 2018 summer season.

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In concert, Howell enjoys a wide variety of repertoire. In the fall of 2023, she presented a solo concert of Kurt Weill’s songs in Rochester, NY, hosted by the Rochester Academy of Medicine and the Kurt Weill Foundation. Rebekah is also frequently featured in Belmont University’s Camerata faculty concerts. Other recent performances have included the soprano solos in Mahler’s 4th Symphony (Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra), and Carmina Burana (Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra). In the summer of 2018, Howell was also featured in the Opera Highlights Concert with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra; she received a standing ovation from the 4,000-seat amphitheater for her rendition of “Les oiseaux dans la charmille” from Les contes d’Hoffmann. An enthusiastic crossover singer, she was also delighted to perform selections from 1776, Fiddler on the Roof, and West Side Story in the Opera Pops Concert with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Stuart Chafetz.

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Howell has garnered recognition from several national and international competitions and auditions. In 2021, Rebekah was the inaugural winner of Kurt Weill Award at the Lotte Lenya Competition for an outstanding performance of two contrasting selections by Weill: “Wie lange noch?” and “What Good Would the Moon Be?” from Street Scene. In subsequent years, Rebekah was again selected as a semifinalist (2022) and finalist (2023), and she will return as a semifinalist in March, 2024.

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A long-time lover of both classical and musical theatre repertoire, Rebekah Howell was the first singer to be a national semifinalist in both the NATS Artist Awards Competition and the NATS Musical Theater Competition, in which she was awarded fourth place (2020). She was also an international semifinalist in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (2019). Other awards and honors include first place in the Fielder Grant Competition for Career Advancement (2019), first place in the Ruth Burr Vocal Competition (2018), an encouragement award from Career Bridges (2018),  second place in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition (2017), second place in the Orpheus Vocal Competition (2017), a Georgina Joshi International Fellowship (2016), first place in the Edward Baird Singer of the Year Competition (2015), first place at the national finals of the MTNA Young Artist Vocal Competition (2015), and the Grady Harlan Award (2015). In 2014, she was also a finalist in the Dallas Opera Guild Competition. 

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Rebekah holds degrees in voice performance from both Baylor University (B. M.) and Indiana University (M. M.). She currently teaches voice both privately and at Belmont University, and she is a frequent adjudicator, masterclass clinician, and guest artist - most recently at Bob Jones University, the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Middle Tennessee State University.