ABOUT HANNAH

Recent career highlights include a debut with the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Marc Minkowski, multiple lead roles and recording projects with the Boston Early Music Festival and appearances with the Innsbruck Early Music Festival (GILDE, L’amazzone corsara), Music of the Baroque (AMORE, Orfeo ed Euridice), Carmel Bach Festival, Ars Lyrica Houston, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Bach Festival, Washington Bach Consort, Madison Bach Musicians, and Baroque Festival of Corona del Mar, among many others. Her "radiant" (Early Music America) debut solo album Arcadian Dreams with Les Délices was released in spring 2026.

De Priest is a versatile stage animal acclaimed for her “compelling, pointedly dramatic” (Chicago Classical Review) performances of Baroque opera. With the GRAMMY-winning Boston Early Music Festival, De Priest has performed in five productions in the past two seasons, including celebrated turns as STELLIDAURA in La Stellidaura Vendicante, LIVIA (Keiser’s Octavia), CUPID (Desmerest’s Circé), and MAUXALINDA (The Dragon of Wantley). She made her Kennedy Center debut with Opera Lafayette as SERPINA in a French version of Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, drawing praise for her “winning performance… sparkling soprano, [and] bravura delivery” (Washington Classical Review). Following her Ars Lyrica Houston debut as CLEOPATRA (Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra) she subsequently appeared as NINFA/PROSERPINA (L’Orfeo) with the company. Other forays into early Italian opera include DAFNE in Jacopo Peri’s Eurydice and SIRENA/DONNA DISINCANTATA in Francesca Caccini’s Alcina, both with Haymarket Opera. She has performed her signature role of DIDO (Dido and Aeneas) with Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Bella Voce Chicago. Her repertoire includes Handel and Mozart heroines in addition to the “masterful” (Olyrix) performances of early operatic works for which she is renowned.

Hannah has earned acclaim at numerous international competitions, winning 2nd Prize at the Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera in 2021. She is also a laureate of the London Handel Competition, the Handel Aria Competition, Le Concours Corneille, the Bethlehem Bach Festival, and the Luminarts Cultural Foundation Competition. 

Hannah holds a BA, magna cum laude with honors from William Jewell College and spent her junior year abroad as a student at the University of Cambridge (UK) where she sang with the Sidney Sussex Chapel Choir. She earned an MA in historical performance practice from Case Western Reserve University, and an M.Mus in vocal performance from McGill University. She did her young artist training at the Boston Early Music Festival, American Bach Soloists Academy, and Oxford Lieder. She was an Art Song Festival Fellow (Cleveland) and a Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival.

Hannah currently makes her home in Philadelphia, where she lives with her husband and rescue dog, Teddy. When not singing, she enjoys reading fiction, working out, making elaborate salads, and following the inspiring athletes of the WNBA.

Praised as a “natural Handelian” with a “gleaming tone” (Chicago Classical Review), Hannah has performed Handel’s Messiah with Grand Rapids Symphony, Billings Symphony, and the Apollo Chorus & Orchestra. Recent seasons have also included MARIA MAGDALENA in Handel’s La Resurrezione under the baton of Maestro Christian Curnyn, Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Elgin Symphony, and Silete Venti with chamber ensemble Les Délices. Hannah has sung the soprano solos of Bach’s St. John Passion with the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Apollo Chorus, and Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and performed numerous Bach cantatas with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Bach in the City, Seattle Bach Festival, Ars Lyrica Houston, American Bach Soloists, and the Carmel Bach Festival. Masterworks by Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Beethoven also feature in her ever-growing repertoire. 

Hannah’s debut solo album with Les Délices was released in spring 2026 on AVIE Records. She can also be heard on Music of the Baroque’s recording of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (ANCILLA I, chorus) and in Bella Voce’s recording of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Naxos). Hannah has been featured on virtual releases from Les Délices, Music of the Baroque, Ars Lyrica Houston, and more. Forthcoming recordings in her developing discography include La Stellidaura vendicante with the Boston Early Music Festival (CPO Label) and an album of 17th-century Italian music with lutenist and YouTube star Brandon Acker.