Kathleen Kelly

Kathleen Kelly’s interests and repertoire are wide-ranging and diverse. Current and recent projects include a CD release and international recital tour with soprano Emily Albrink, conducting the world premiere of Matt Boehler’s FAT PIG, performing in Tonya McKinny’s film of Kamala Sankaram’s Interstate for Minnesota Opera, and founding Lone Star Song. Kathleen began her career at the San Francisco Opera. After two summers in the Merola program, she joined the company’s music staff and moved from there to a long association with the Metropolitan Opera.

She was head of music at Houston Grand Opera, and music director of the Berkshire Opera before moving to become the first woman and first American named as Director of Musical Studies at the Vienna State Opera. Kathleen has conducted at the Glimmerglass Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Arizona Opera, El Paso Opera, Opera Columbus, the Merola Program, and the Alexandria Symphony, and has been a visiting master coach for the prestigious young artist programs of Chicago Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, and the National Theater of Tokyo. Kathleen’s recital career includes appearances at Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Mahlersaal of the Vienna State Opera, the Neue Galerie, the Schwabacher Series in San Francisco, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival.

Her recent collaborations with Jamie Barton have won wide acclaim, and her partners have included Jamie van Eyck, Emily Albrink Katz, Caitlin Lynch, Jonathan Lasch, Elena Villalon, Michael Kelly, Karen Slack, Ryan McKinny, Christine Goerke, Troy Cook, Emily Albrink Katz, Amber Wagner, Sorin Coliban, Ariana Strahl, Martha Guth, Karen Slack, and Jennifer Holloway. She has curated art song series for the Houston Grand Opera and the Vienna State Opera. In demand as a mentor of rising artists, Kathleen has given masterclasses and workshops across North America, among others at the University of Toronto, the Schulich School at McGill University, University of Cincinnati, Baylor University, Vanderbilt University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, the Peabody Conservatory, University of Washington, William Jewell College, the Schmidt Competition, Westminster Choir College, and Interlochen. She has served on the juries of the Wirth Prize at McGill University, the Dallas Opera Guild competition, the Kristin Lewis Foundation Scholarship auditions, the Cooper-Bing competition, the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

A published poet and essayist, Kathleen has created several new opera translations and libretti. Her poem “”You” was chosen as one of five poems for Jake Heggie’s new cycle “What I Miss,” composed for Jamie Barton. Her poems have also been set by composers David Hanlon, Jamie Leidwinger, and Juliana Hall. Her English adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, commissioned by Tri-Cities Opera, is now in use alongside her chamber orchestra arrangement of the work. For Arizona Opera, she created a multilingual version of Emmerich Kalman’s Arizona Lady, and she wrote the libretto for David Hanlon’s Wolf Trap premiere Listen, Wilhelmina! Her English adaptation of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride premiered in 2019, and her English adaptation of La boheme commissioned by Opera Columbus premiered in 2021. She is co-librettist for Kamala Sankaram’s Interstate.

Kathleen is regularly invited to speak and write on a variety of topics related to the opera industry, especially issues affecting women. Kathleen is also a mentor for Turn the Spotlight, an organization dedicated to mentorship for women and women-identifying artists. She has been a keynote speaker for the National Council of Teachers of Singing, a presenter for the National Opera Association, and she serves on the Opera America Artistic Services Council