Kelley O'Connor's “dark, low mezzo-soprano and expressive stage presence are those of a riveting singer emerged, not emerging…” is how the Los Angeles Times describes this 26 year-old artist who is receiving international critical acclaim portraying 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 has subsequently joined Miguel Harth-Bedoya for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra 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, and her debuts, at the Ojai and Ravinia festivals. Ms. O'Connor made her European debut in January 2006 at The Barbican Centre in a performance of Golijov's Ainadamar Suite with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roberto Minczuk. Opera Now has recognized Ms. O'Connor on its annual “Young Artists: Who's Hot?” list of 2006.
During the 2006-07 season, the California native's impressive concert calendar includes performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and of Bernstein's Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah” with Franz Welser-Mőst and the Cleveland Orchestra, both in Cleveland and in Miami at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Robert Spano with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, Britten's Cantata Academica with Robert Porco and the Cincinnati Symphony, Mozart's Requiem with Louis Langrée and the Baltimore Symphony, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Ivan Fischer and the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as Brahms' Songs for Alto, Viola, and Piano with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society. She also joins Franz Welser-Mőst and the Cleveland Orchestra as Meg Page in Falstaff performances at the Lucerne Festival, Michael Christie and the Phoenix Symphony for concert performances of Hansel und Gretel, and she covers the role of Teodata in Handel's Flavio at the New York City Opera.
Highlights of past seasons include performances of Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles and Falstaff with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, Berio's Laborintus II and Dvorak's Moravian Duets at the Los Angeles Philharmonic with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Iván Fischer, respectively, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Edward Gardner and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and a gala concert of opera arias and ensembles to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Santa Fe Opera.
Ms. O'Connor has a Bachelor of Music degree from USC and received her Masters degree from UCLA while studying with Nina Hinson. Ms. O'Connor is a winner of the Long Beach Mozart Festival, the Los Angeles NATS Competition, the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition, and is a scholarship recipient of the Opera Buffs, Inc.
Kelley O'Connor will be performing "Ainadamar" May 23-24, 2008.