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Soprano, Kelly Curtin, is known not only for her extraordinary vocalism, but also for her ability to play both comedic and dramatic roles with realism and great timing. She has been lauded for her “crystal-clear soprano” and the “lovely fullness” of her voice by Opera News and New York Classical Review respectively. 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. 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 than once and frequently sings the Christmas and Easter portions of the work in the DC area seasonally. She was to return to the Helena Symphony for the third time in December 2020 to perform as the soprano soloist in J.C. Bach's Gloria, but the concert was re-programmed in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. 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. In December of 2018, Ms. Curtin 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.
Ms. Curtin began the 2022/23 season in concert with a performance with Maryland Opera in a concert of selections from Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte, La Fille du Régiment, The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Charpentier's Louise. Following that appearance, she jumped in as Die Königin der Nacht in Washington Opera Society's concert of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Austrian Embassy. Upcoming appearances include the workshop and premiere performances of Brian Wilbur Grundstrom's opera For Whom the Bell Tolls based on Ernest Hemingway's famous novel. Ms. Curtin will premiere the role of Maria, which Mr. Grundstrom has been composing for her since 2015.
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." Besides her work on For Whom the Bell Tolls, 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. 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. |
