Gwen Paker is an award-winning soprano equally at home on the operatic stage, in the concert hall, and behind the scenes. In addition to performing in the Rochester area, Gwen is the Director of Development and a member of the voice faculty at The Hochstein School. She is an alumna of the Eastman School of Music, where Gwen won first prize in the Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition and the Eastman Voice Department Concerto Competition. 

An avid lover of opera, Gwen made her professional operatic debut as Gertrude Stein in Thomson’s The Mother of Us All with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has starred in several productions with Eastman Opera Theatre. Highlights from her credits with Eastman Opera Theatre include leading roles like Léontine in Bologne’s L’amant anonyme, Dr. Nora Lear in Davis’s Lear On The 2nd Floor, Eleonora in Salieri’s Prima la musica e poi le parole, and Baker’s Wife cover in Sondheim’s Into The Woods. Gwen’s other credits with Eastman Opera Theatre include Erste Dame in a scene from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, La Chauve-Souris in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, and Laura in Pen and Harmon’s Goblin Market. In addition to her work at Eastman, Gwen has spent several summers as a Studio Artist with various operatic training programs, including Opera In The Ozarks, the German Vocal Arts Institute, and Oberlin In Italy. With Opera in the Ozarks, she performed as Maria in Rodriguez’s children’s opera Monkey See, Monkey Do and was awarded “Outstanding Performance by a Female Studio Artist.”

Gwen has also excelled as a concert and oratorio soloist, seen as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Floriano; and Hanne in Haydn’s The Seasons with the Finger Lakes Choral Festival, conducted by Eric Townell. While studying at Eastman, Gwen performed Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Eastman Philharmonia, conducted by Austin Chanu. Earlier, Gwen was the soprano soloist in Liszt’s Missa Solemnis with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra and Eastman-Rochester Chorus, conducted by Dr. William Weinert. She also covered the soprano soloist in Britten’s War Requiem with the Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman-Rochester Chorus, and Eastman Chorale.

In all of her work as a performer, teacher, and arts leader, Gwen supports diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and is a strong advocate for increased equity and justice in opera.