A native of the California Bay Area, Abbigail Coté utilizes her varied experience in opera production, musical theatre education, and arts administration in her role as Director of Opera and the University of Iowa. Prior to joining UI, Ms. Coté served as Executive Director at Eugene Opera, Leo Lecturer of Opera at the University of Michigan,  and Director of Vocal Studies at Eastern Washington University.

Dr. Coté’s love for all aspects of opera began in 2005, when she formed the East Bay Aria Club, an artist collective that produced semi-staged operas in Concord, California. Bitten by the production bug, she paused her performing career to pursue her Masters in Opera Production from Florida State University, studying under Mathew Lata and Douglas Fisher. Abbigail earned her Doctorate in Vocal Performance with a special emphasis in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Oregon in 2017.

Over the breadth of her career, Dr. Coté has worked to promote opera to a variety of communities. In 2016, she directed, Law and Opera; an evening of Opera Scenes with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg for the Castleton Music Festival. The live streamed event, featuring legal analysis of scenes from the traditional opera canon, received over 10,000 views during it’s initial stream. Dr. Coté also produced the 2017 world premier of Anice Thigpen’s The Woman of Salt and the 2018 public reading of Gary Edwards’s Qualchan Opera.

In addition to her production work, Dr. Coté continues to work as a professional vocal pedagogue, serving professional singers in New York, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Phoenix, Okinawa, and Stuttgart. She has adjudicated multiple competitions, including the MTNA National Voice Competition and has provided professional clinics for The Laughing Pig Theatre, the University of Montana, and the Spokane Unified School District. When not in production, she enjoys time outdoors with her two Great Danes, Goldie Fawn and Kurt Russel.