Amy is a Tennessee native who currently resides in Denver, CO, with her husband, baby boy, and furry child. Quickly gaining a reputation for her crystalline coloratura, relentless high notes, and witty theatrics, Amy compels audiences with her fearless artistry and attention to detail. Performing with such orchestras as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra Kentucky, among others, Amy is making her mark as a respected concert soloist as much as an operatic performer. As a guest artist with such Colorado companies as Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Opera Colorado, Loveland Opera Theatre, Boulder Opera, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Colorado Chamber Orchestra, The Larimer Chorale, The Denver Art Song Project, and Parish House Baroque, Amy is quickly becoming a go-to soprano on the high desert circuit.
Possessing a special talent for all things florid, roles include Cunegonde in Candide, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Gilda in Rigoletto, Linda in Linda di Chamounix, Lakmé in Lakmé , Thérèse in Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Dorinda in Orlando, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Tuptim in The King and I, Cosette in Les Miserables, and Christine in The Phantom of the Opera.
Of Amy’s 2015 performance as Gilda in Piedmont Opera’s Rigoletto, Joseph Newsome of Voix des Arts described her as a singer “who met every technical challenge unflinchingly…and commanded the audience’s sympathy with gestures and actions of emotional meaning.” He said she showed “starlit articulation” and created “an atmosphere of concentrated emotion as she unfurled a velvety ribbon of tone.” The critic went on to say that Amy was “heartbreakingly tender” in scenes with her stage father and in her performance of Gilda’s famed aria “Caro nome,” delivered “an intimate reverie that was distinguished with sparkling trills and crystalline” high notes. He noted that “Maples was inspired to vocalism of impeccable poise and time-stopping expressivity” and “the pathos of her phrasing in the final act was gripping.”
In the summer of 2011, Amy performed the duel leadings roles of Irma and Musette in a revival of Victor Herbert’s The Fortune Teller with The Ohio Light Opera and has since become the first soprano to both perform and record the work in its entirety. Regarding her recorded performance, Opera News said: “A star vehicle needs a star, and Ohio Light Opera has one in Amy Maples. Maples’ soprano is supple and rich, her pitch true, her dictation and comic timing spot-on. She manages to assay her three characters, Irma, Fedor and Musette, with such vividness that the listener never has a doubt as to which character she is portraying at a given time.” Likewise, in 2012, Amy became the first soprano to both perform and record the leading role of Mitzi in Sigmund Romberg’s Blossom Time. Her recording of Blossom Time with The Ohio Light Opera was released in early 2013.
An extremely versatile performer, Amy was named a semifinalist in the 2012 American Traditions Competition after dazzling audiences and judges with selections from the jazz, gospel, pop, opera, musical theater, and art song repertory. Other recent honors include 2nd place at the 2017 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Young Artist Competition, performing as a Regional Finalist in the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as a finalist in both the 2010 and 2011 Orpheus Vocal Competition, and as a semi-finalist in the 2010 American Traditions Competition at the 2010 Savannah Music Festival. Amy was the 2014 recipient of the Pike’s Peak Opera League Career Grant Award.
Amy received her MM in Voice Performance from Florida State University where she studied with tenor Stanford Olsen, after receiving her BM in Voice Performance at Lee University in her home state of Tennessee.