Later Career
In the mid-1990s, Blackwell moved away from the soubrette repertoire and began to sing almost exclusively lyric coloratura roles. Instrumental in boosting her profile within this repertoire was Seattle Opera under the direction of Speight Jenkins. Blackwell first worked with the company in 1990 in the role of Marie in La fille du régiment. Impressed with her voice, the company rehired Blackwell periodically throughout the 1990s and 2000s giving her opportunities to sing new repertoire such as the title roles in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Delibes' Lakmé. She has also sung Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffman with the company among other roles. Positive reviews from these performances led to Blackwell's engagement during the late 1990s and 2000s in similar repertoire with many other companies to great acclaim including Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Opéra de Nice, Florida Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, and the Netherlands Opera.
In 1997 Blackwell returned to Broadway to star as Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide. Although Blackwell earned rave reviews for her singing, the production as a whole was not well received. Most critics blamed the productions flaws on Hal Prince's interpretation and direction that caused a lack of overall focus within the show. Others have blamed the problems on inherent flaws within the musical's book. Blackwell can be heard on the recording of the 1997 revival. Blackwell had also previously recorded several other works by Bernstein the year before on her solo album Blackwell Sings Bernstein that was released on the RCA label. The album features a guest performance by Vanessa L. Williams as Anita in selections from West Side Story.
Blackwell has also performed in many acclaimed concert series and given many lauded recitals over the years. She has performed at London's Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, The San Francisco Performance Series at the Herbst Theatre, the Morgan Library, the Kennedy Center, and the Ambassador Foundation Performing Arts Series in Los Angeles. In 2002-2003 she toured the United States giving concerts with Florence Quivar. She has also performed for several notable figures. In 1999 Blackwell was invited to perform at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II's 80th birthday. In 2006, she performed a concert in honor of the Dance Theatre of Harlem at the White House with President George W. Bush and Laura Bush in attendance.
Other major national and international opera companies and festivals that Blackwell has performed with include: the Washington National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opera Orchestra of New York, and New York's Mostly Mozart Festival among others.
Also an accomplished singer of the concert repertoire, she has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the London Symphony Orchestra. Her concert work has included performances of Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Brahms's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Die Schöpfung, André Previn's Honey and Rue, Mahler's Symphony No.4, Mozart's Requiem, and Orff's Carmina Burana among many others.
Throughout her career Miss Blackwell has had the privilege of singing under some of the world's finest conductors including Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnányi, Placido Domingo, Charles Dutoit, Erich Kunzel, James Levine, Andrew Litton, Zdeněk Mácal, Kurt Masur, Trevor Pinnock, André Previn, Simon Rattle, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, and David Zinman.
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