Clarissa Ocampo

Clarissa Ocampo is a Filipino-American mezzo-soprano who has performed professionally in the United States and Asia. Born in the Philippines, she is the daughter of a concert pianist and an obstetrician. After completing high school in 1986, she had planned to pursue college in the United States, but the People Power Revolution against the Marcos regime altered those plans. She instead enrolled as a pre-med student at a local university before transferring to the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, where she began building a singing career while still a student. She later gained acceptance to the Juilliard School for graduate school, receiving the Anna Case McKay Scholarship Grant, which marked the beginning of her professional career in the United States.

Ocampo's operatic training at Juilliard included performing the role of Third Spirit in a Juilliard Opera Theater production of The Magic Flute in 1992. Her early career also included the role of Romeo in I Capuletti ed I Montecchi in 1993, and in 1995 she performed as Pitti-Sing in The Mikado with Opera North and as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. In 1996, she appeared on Broadway in The King and I. Her role of Lady Thiang was also part of the First National Touring Company of the production, presented by Dodger Productions in New York, where she holds an Actors' Equity Association membership.

Her operatic credits span multiple countries and companies. She performed the role of Olga in the Philippine premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in 2006, Flora Bervoix in Verdi's La Traviata with the Singapore Lyric Opera in 2008, Judith in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle with the MCO Foundation in 2009, and Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2012. Additional concert engagements include serving as alto soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, performing Handel's Messiah at Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston on two occasions, and singing the alto solo in Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ocampo has received fellowship grants from the University of California Santa Barbara Vocal Institute, where she participated in song recitals and a master class led by Mignon Dunn, and from the Aspen Music Festival Chamber Music program in Colorado, where she performed in concerts including one featuring soprano Renée Fleming. She is also a prizewinner of the New York Vocal Artists Competition held at Carnegie Hall and a two-time prize winner of the National Music Competition for Young Artists in the Philippines. She held a University of Santo Tomas Scholarship Grant and a Young Artist Foundation Scholarship Award.

Her 2004 album Cradle Songs, released through IJH Productions in Boston, won both Best Lullaby Album and Best Classical Album at the 2004 Children's Music Awards, as determined by more than 70 schools in the United States. In 2013, she received the Best Female Classical Performer award at the Aliw Awards. From May 2012 through March 2013, Ocampo served a ten-month Artist-in-Residence position with the Philippine Opera Company in Manila, where she provided private studio instruction and master classes to young artists, assisted the Artistic Director with the monthly Young Artist Series, and performed as a guest artist in main stage productions and special events.

In September 2015, Ocampo earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication Disorders with a concentration in Speech-Language Pathology. She subsequently became a licensed, ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist and Voice Specialist, applying her background in vocal performance to work with singers, actors, and other professional voice users through coaching, workshops, and masterclasses.