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Soprano, Kelly Curtin, is known not only for her extraordinary vocalism, but for her ability to play both comedic and dramatic roles with realism and great timing. She has been lauded for her “crystal-clear soprano” by Opera News and the “lovely fullness” of her voice by New York Classical Review. Her performance of Marie in La Fille du Régiment with St. Petersburg Opera in Florida was recently named "Best Opera Performance of the Decade" by Creative Loafing Tampa. Video of this performance is available here: St. Petersburg Opera: La Fille du Régiment. In 2019 she won "Best Supporting actress in a musical" from Theatre Tampa Bay for her portrayal of Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni with St. Petersburg Opera. Other roles have included Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Olympia (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Mimì (La Bohème), Donna Anna and Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi and Despina (Così fan tutte), Micaëla and Frasquita (Carmen), Tisbe (Piramo e Tisbe) (Hasse), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Eurydice (Orphée aux Enfers), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Le Feu and Le Rossignol (L'enfant et les sortilèges), and Valencienne (The Merry Widow), among several others.
As a concert performer, Ms. Curtin has appeared as the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Helena Symphony more three times and frequently sings the Christmas and Easter portions of the work in the DC area seasonally. She jumped in the morning of the performance for it in Baltimore last December at the Cathedral of Baltimore under Ed Polochick's baton. Other concert works include the soprano solos in Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" and Ola Gjielo's "Dreamweaver" with CoroAllegro (DE), Vivaldi's Gloria with Market Street Music's Noontime Concerts, and Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate. Ms. Curtin also joined the St. Louis Church Concert Series in their Christmas presentation singing "Et incarnatus est" from Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor. A recording of this performance is available on Ms. Curtin's YouTube Channel.
YouTube: Kelly Curtin, Soprano
In June of 2025, Ms. Curtin made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria and Forrest's Jubilate Deo. Her season continues with a reprisal of the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus with Washington Opera Society at the Embassy of Austria, followed by a concert celebrating Coloratura Sopranos, Over the Top, for the opening of Opéra Louisiane's season. Ms. Curtin also returns to Maryland Opera for another "First Friday" at Boordy Vineyards in a concert that celebrates opera and the American songbook, with a special focus on Bel Canto Opera. She makes her long awaited debut as Violetta in La Traviata with the Aria Club of DC. This production is a re-schedule of the production that would have taken place in March of 2020. She then returns to the Helena Symphony as the soprano soloist in Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem, followed by a return to St. Pete Opera as Olympia in their children's opera Pinocchio. Finally, she returns to the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance for the closing of the inaugural season of Opera Today! In past seasons she was seen as a Guest Entertainer for Princess Cruises, serving as the Opera Diva in their production of Encore! and providing Opera "Edu-tainment" in her own solo performance introducing Opera and Operetta to new audiences in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Ms. Curtin is also a champion of new operatic works and has participated in several workshops and premieres, or subsequent performances in which newer works were still "under construction." Ms. Curtin has participated in the premieres of Joseph Kaz's The Female Stranger at the DC Fringe Festival, and a filmed production of Andrew Earle Simpson and Susan Galbraith's Caesar and the Mannequin with the New Music Theatre Association. She has also workshopped Brian Wilbur Grundstrom's operatic take on For Whom the Bell Tolls as Maria, a role which he has been composing for her voice since 2015. Other performances of contemporary operas include Valentina in John Musto's Later the Same Evening, Senator Patrick Leahy in Melissa Dunphy's Gonzales Cantata as filmed by In Series Opera, Emma in Francis Pollock's What Gets Kept, Josephine in Michael Oberhauser's The Name on the Door, and several pieces from Michael Ching's Speed Dating Tonight! which she recorded as learning aids for future productions.
Ms. Curtin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Delaware and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She studies with Mark Oswald and is grateful to have been sponsored in her previous studies by a generous grant from the Jean Collat Memorial Fund. |
