Bio
For her creation of the title role in David Carlson’s Anna Karenina, Opera News proclaimed that soprano Kelly Kaduce is “…an exceptional actress whose performance was as finely modulated dramatically as it was musically… and her dark, focused sound was lusty and lyrical one moment, tender and floating the next.” Among her engagements in the 2019-20 season are the title role of Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Memphis, a reprise of Wendy in Paul Moravec’s The Shining with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Older Alyce in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied with Atlanta Opera.
In the summer of 2018, Ms. Kaduce sang Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Santa Fe Opera. In the 2017-18 season, she sang the title role of Massenet’s Thaïs with Minnesota Opera, the title role of Tosca with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Polly in The Threepenny Opera with Boston Lyric Opera. Her engagements in the 2016-17 season included Nedda in Pagliacci with Virginia Opera, Liù in Turandot with Atlanta Opera, and her role debut as Desirée Armfeldt in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Des Moines Metro Opera. In the summer of 2016, Ms. Kaduce debuted with Des Moines Metro Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff, and sang Giorgetta in Il tabarro with Bard Music Festival.
Ms. Kaduce’s recent engagements include the title roles of Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, and Rusalka, and the world premiere of The Shining with Minnesota Opera; Madama Butterfly with Florida Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and West Australian Opera; Mimì in La bohème with Boston Lyric Opera; Tosca with Houston Grand Opera; Katja in Weinberg’s Die Passagierin with Lyric Opera of Chicago; Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title role of Salome with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Liu in Turandot with Utah Opera; Anne Sorenson in Puts’ Silent Night and Princess Lan in Tan Dun’s Tea with Opera Philadelphia; Liu in Turandot in a return to Minnesota Opera; Rusalka with L’Opéra de Montréal and Opera Colorado; Patricia Nixon in Nixon in China and Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Eugene Opera; Violetta in La traviata with Opera Tulsa and Malmö Opera; Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Eugene Opera; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Michigan Opera Theatre; Desdemona in Otello with Kentucky Opera; and Suor Angelica at Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile.
Among Ms. Kaduce’s career highlights are several world premieres, including Rosasharn in Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Minnesota Opera, Carlson’s Anna Karenina with Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Caroline in Danielpour’s Margaret Garner with Michigan Opera Theatre, the Chinese Actress and Zi Zhen in Sheng’s Madame Mao with Santa Fe Opera, and two roles in the Central Park trilogy with Glimmerglass Opera.
Her concert credits include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, and Argento’s Casa Guidi. She has also appeared with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for an evening of arias, with Florida Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven’s Egmont, and with Boston University Symphony Orchestra in Britten’s War Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Kelly Kaduce is a graduate of both St. Olaf College and Boston University, and is a previous winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.