Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, musical sophistication far beyond her years, and intuitive and innate dramatic artistry, the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor has quickly emerged as one of the most compelling performers of her generation.
During the 2009-10 season the California native’s impressive calendar includes performances of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, and Jeffrey Kahane and the Colorado Symphony; Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Handel’s Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The American mezzo also performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall under Sir Roger Norrington, as well as with the San Diego Symphony, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and on an international tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer. She joins Edo de Waart for Mahler’s Third Symphony with both the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Milwaukee Symphony, sings Bach’s St. John Passion with Roberto Minczuk and the Calgary Philharmonic, and makes her BBC Proms Festival debut with Jirí Belohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and her Edinburgh International Festival debut with James Conlon and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in John Adams’ El Niño.
Performances of the coming season include Berio’s Folk Songs with Daniel Harding and the London Symphony Orchestra at the prestigious Berlin Festival, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on an international tour, excerpts from Roussel’s Padmavati with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Britten’s Spring Symphony with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and a Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Rory Macdonald.
Highlights of past seasons have included performances of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964 with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, John Adams’s El Niño with David Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elias with Ingo Metzmacher and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, L'Enfant et les sortilèges with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War with Bernard Labadie and the San Francisco Symphony, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Ms. O’Connor enjoys a particularly warm musical collaboration with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra with whom she has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (commercially available on Deutsche Grammophon), Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” staged performances of Falstaff (in Cleveland and at the Lucerne Festival), and Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles. She returns to open the Cleveland Orchestra season in September with performances under Welser-Möst.
Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs has highlighted the artist’s prominence as one of the world’s leading concert artists in two significant European debuts: performances with David Zinman and the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Additionally, the work served her Carnegie Hall debut in a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.
Kelley O’Connor has received unanimous international critical acclaim for her numerous performances as Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. Ms. O'Connor created the role for the world premiere at Tanglewood under the baton of Robert Spano and subsequently has joined Miguel Harth-Bedoya for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall. She reprised her portrayal of Federico García Lorca in the world premiere of the revised edition of Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera in a new staging by Peter Sellars during the 2005 season, which also was presented at Lincoln Center. For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in Ainadamar, she joined Robert Spano for performances and a Deutsche Grammophon recording: she rejoined Spano and Atlanta in summer 2006 for further performances of Ainadamar, including her debuts at the Ojai and Ravinia festivals. In past seasons, she has bowed as Lorca in performances of Ainadamar at Opera Boston, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the Barbican Centre, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ms. O’Connor made her Cincinnati Opera debut in Ainadamar in a realization of the work by director Jose Maria Condemi. Additional operatic engagements have included her Canadian Opera Company debut in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a production by Neil Armfield and the role of Meg Page in Falstaff at the Santa Fe Opera.
Additional information is available on the artist’s website: www.kelleyoconnor.com.
Kelley O’Connor is represented by Intermusica in UK.
May 2010 / 749 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
“Kelley O'Connor, [whose] dark, low mezzo-soprano and expressive stage presence are those of a riveting singer emerged, not emerging"
Los Angeles Times
Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs
Colorado Symphony Orchestra / cond. Jeffrey Kahane
“Every so often, a singular singer comes along who can handle traditional opera but is better suited to art song, contemporary music and unconventional works of whatever kind.
One such artist is mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, who has the potential to be one of the great singers of our time, as she demonstrated so convincingly Friday evening with the Colorado Symphony.
With singing that managed to be at once seductive and haunting, O'Connor was equal to this smoldering music in every way. She possesses an amazing, dark-hued lower register but can agilely soar into her upper range as needed.
Perhaps most important, she trusts the innate power of these songs and never pushes too hard. Instead, it is always nuanced control, as in her repetitions of 'muriendo' (dying) at the end of the third song, each minutely yet significantly and expressively different.
This was the kind of transporting, transformative singing that is deeply moving, life-affirming and all too rare.”
Kyle MacMillan, Denver Post, January 2010
Mahler Symphony No.3
“And then there is Kelley O'Connor. The mezzo-soprano, who made her mark at the CMF last season in her stunning turn as Federico Garcia Lorca in the opera "Ainadamar," possesses a priceless instrument in her throat. Her almost otherworldly sound is ideal for the haunting setting of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" in the fourth movement, as well as the darker central episode of the choral fifth movement. She has a resonant, deep tone, highly appropriate for the text, which repeats the German word "tief" ( "deep" ) frequently.”
Kelly Dean Hansen, The Daily Camera, August 2008
Peter Lieberson Neruda Songs
“If O’Connor didn’t achieve her predecessor’s inwardness (who could?), her fresh, dark-hued mezzo was a pleasure to hear. At the conclusion of the piece, the composer himself took the stage, clearly moved, to clasp the mezzo’s hands in thanks.”
Fred Cohn, Opera News, August 2008
“…Kelley O'Connor's entrancing delivery of the collection of love poems to which Lieberson composed a lush musical setting for his late wife, singer Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Like Hunt Lieberson, O'Connor's mezzo-soprano voice is warm and soulful. The 28-year-old Californian's alluring stage presence and darkly timbered presentation of Pablo Neruda's romantic prose pervaded Aspen's Benedict Music Tent on Friday in one of the summer's most memorable, transfixing artistic experiences…O'Connor's carefully sculpted phrasings and subtle, nuanced inflections blended immaculately with the well-modulated washes of sound produced by the orchestra.”
Sabine Kortals, The Denver Post, July 2008
“She [Kelly O’Connor] has the visceral glimmer, excellent Spanish, and technique and tone to draw out the songs’ surreal languor.”
Justin Davidson, New York Magazine, May 2008
“Ms. O’Connor, a statuesque Californian, made much of the Spanish-language settings. She caught their tone of weary, below-the-equator languor, crooning held notes or attacking consonants with insinuating little slurs. She has a fine, well-modulated voice that travels easily in big spaces. The ability to hold her audience captive during the near-whispers that end the concluding Sonnet XCII (“My love, if I die and you don’t”) had more to do with personality than with power.”
Bernard Holland, The New York Times, May 2008
“O'Connor invested the songs with a luster, sensitivity and grace of her own.”
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, May 2008
“Kelley O'Connor was Lieberson's own choice as his wife's successor in the work, and she brought a careful intelligence and Iberian flavor to the five settings of the Spanish writer's love poems.”
Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun Times, May 2008
Haydn Mass in Times of War
“The standout, though, was mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, whose Symphony debut was marked by dark, lustrous vocal tone and an arresting command of melodic phrase. Her few moments in the spotlight - particularly the opening of the "Sanctus" - left a listener wanting more.”
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, April 2008
Golijov Ainadamar
“Upshaw was the big draw...but it was Kelley O'Connor's Lorca who gave us a thrill. A Russian bass wouldn't sniff at this mezzo-soprano's lower range, and the poet's passion and allure shone from her features.”
Geoff Brown, Times, April 2008
“Many a mezzo-soprano initially draws public attention by donning a man’s trousers on the operatic stage. For Kelley O’Connor, portraying the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s bracing ‘Ainadamar’ kick-started what promises to be a major career. Her smoky sound and riveting stage presence made an indelible impact. … Ms. O’Connor’s bright smile finally found its way into her voice during a bouncy ‘Fêtes galantes,’ one of four delectable songs by Reynaldo Hahn. She invested his ‘Infidélité’ with an anguish made more gripping by aching understatement and stillness. In four songs from Hugo Wolf’s ‘Spanisches Liederbuch,’ Ms. O’Connor was by turns flirty, tender and acidic.”
Steve Smith, New York Times, January 2008
“Kelley O'Connor has become a star through her portrayals of Lorca, a fully believable characterization despite the obvious gender thing. She can dive way below the contralto range with no loss of focus, all the while delivering a vital characterization that injects a much-needed humanity into the role. Her return as a ghostly presence in the profound final moments was exquisitely handled.”
Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News, July 2007
“She has an unexpectedly deep, entrancing voice, tinged with a sense of timelessness and exoticism.”
Kyle MacMillan, Denver Post, July 2007
“We were prepared to be thrilled by soprano Dawn Upshaw during the Ravinia Festival's presentation June 14 of Osvaldo Golijov's opera ‘Ainadamar’ or ‘Fountain of Tears,’ which told the story of the execution of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca by Spanish fascists in the 1930s. And we were. The big surprise, however, in the finely-honed performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Robert Spano, was mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, who bounded on the stage in the trouser role of Lorca and held us spellbound. She exuded energy and verve, becoming the embodiment of the reckless young poet. The California native, with her strong, mellow voice, created the role in the world premiere at Tanglewood and later performed it with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya at Walt Disney Hall. In addition to appearing at Ravinia, she sang the role at the Ojai Festival in California, known for its embrace of new music. Her voice is on the premiere recording by Deutsche Grammophon. Very impressive for a mezzo only in her late 20s. Let's hope that Ravinia has her back very soon.”
Dorothy Andries, Evanston Review, December 2006
“The performance had splendid moments, especially when mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor was imbuing her arias with timbral warmth and expressive allure.”
Donald Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 2006
“O'Connor's Lorca was a striking figure, charismatic and full of restless life. Her sumptuous dark mezzo captured Lorca's mix of profound imagination and danger-courting youth.”
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun Times, June 2006
“The star of the evening was mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor. The 25-year old artist was sensational. She has an expressive velvet voice, mesmerizing particularly in the lower range, a most dignified stage presence, and deep musicality. I won't be surprised if her career goes far.”
Ilan Peleg, The Allentown Morning Call, April 2006
“Even better, Kelley O’Connor sang straight into the heart of Lorca’s music with her hauntingly husky mezzo-soprano.”
Peter G. Davis, New York, February 2006
“Kelley O'Connor sings with haunting colorations as an androgynous Lorca…”
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe, January 2006
“It was an inexplicably powerful idea to make García Lorca a trouser role, here sung by the mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Conner, who gives a vocally impassioned and daring portrayal.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, January 2006
“A more inward character, Lorca was disarmingly played by rich-voiced mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, wearing a man’s suit and with her hair slicked back. Whether smiling slyly in a flirting duet with Upshaw or shedding calm, quiet tears at the end of a gun, she portrayed a real man.”
Bradley Bambarger, The Star-Ledger, January 2006
“…Kelley O’Connor…has a smoky instrument and an affinity for the stage.”
Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun, January 2006
“Audiences are exuberant about Kelley O’Connor who had created Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Tanglewood in 2003…(she) was radiant in the role in the expanded version of the work premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in July. Her rich mezzo brought wondrous depth to Lorca and she wore his trousers without a trace of mannerism. O’Connor is now slated for Meg Page opposite Thomas Quasthoff and Simon Keenlyside with the Cleveland Orchestra in a concert Falstaff that will go to Carnegie Hall and the Lucerne Festival.”
Opera Now, November/December 2005
“As Lorca, Kelley O'Connor's rich, velvety mezzo extended down into a gender-neutral contralto range. A young singer, she seems assured a major career.”
Pierre Ruhe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 2005
“…the poet Lorca was sung by a woman, Kelley O’Connor, who aptly invested the gentle figure of the poet with a bewitching androgyny.”
Simon Williams, Opera News, November 2005
“García Lorca, sung by mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, is musically seductive, palpably charismatic, and clearly a force of intoxicating power on the characters around him. From his arrival to his death, he has the audience's sympathy, as a young man not only lost in his artistic dreams, but able to draw those around him into the mesmerizing labyrinth as well. The vocal part is written for a woman who has a low, throaty, androgynous voice, and O'Connor is well suited for the part. She makes a strangely sexy yet sexless sound, the kind of sound that made one wonder if it was really coming from a woman's mouth. Yet in later scenes she was capable of almost Straussian orgies of feminine sounds.”
Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post, August 15, 2005
“Lorca, a ‘pants’ role, was richly sung by mezzo Kelley O'Connor, a member of Santa Fe's apprentice program.” Janelle Gelfand, The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 2005
“…mezzo Kelley O'Connor had a substantive lower register, and, costumed in a powder-blue man's suit, she actually looks a bit like a thinner-faced García Lorca. Opera is full of ‘trousers roles’ for women, of course, and with artful singing from Ms. O'Connor this one is surprisingly persuasive.”
Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, August 2005
“Kelley O’Connor, who sang Lorca as one of the student performances in Tanglewood, sang Lorca again. She is now an apprentice singer at Santa Fe Opera, but this performance gives notice that her apprenticeship is over. Her dark, low mezzo-soprano and expressive stage presence are those of a riveting singer emerged, not emerging.”
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, August 2005
“Kelley O’Connor, reprising her role of Lorca, gave us a man and artist to weep for, singing with molten-lava lower tones. Her terror in the execution scene was pitiable, her affection for Xirgu strong enough to feel.”
Craig Smith, Free New Mexican, August 2005
Bernstein Symphony No.1 Jeremiah
“Mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor sang the ‘Lamentation’ [from Bernstein’s ‘Jeremiah’ Symphony] with haunting duskiness and piercing intensity…”
Donald Rosenberg, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 2007
Ravel L'Enfant et les sortilèges
“Also impressive was another mezzo, Kelley O'Connor, who displayed her dark, smoky, and beautiful instrument. She sings super-smoothly with that instrument, too. With every appearance she makes, we see that this is a singer to be reckoned with.”
Jay Nordlinger, New York Sun, October 2006
Verdi Falstaff
“Kelley O’Connor made more of Meg Page than is sometimes the case, her colorful voice allowing the nuances of the letter-reading to come through quite clearly.”
Alan Montgomery, Opera News, August 2006
“Kelley O'Connor was an enchanting Meg Page with a dusky mezzo timbre.”
Donald Rosenberg, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 2006
“I hope we'll keep hearing from Kelley O'Connor, whose gleaming mezzo-soprano and laughing charm made Meg Page a no-worries accomplice.”
Elaine Guregian, The Akron Beacon Journal, June 2006
Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
“Mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor brought a rich vocal quality to her solo.”
Wilma Salisbury, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 2005
Back to Top