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The American soprano and educator, Kelly Marie Whitesell, obtained her Bachelor Music degree with distinction in Voice Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (September 2015-June 2020), studying with Katherine Ciesinski as well as Philip Silvey. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Voice & Opera at University of Connecticut (UConn), under the tutelage of Rod Nelman (2021-2023), as well as Graduate Certificate in Arts Leadership and Cultural Management (December 2022-December 2023). She recently won the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra (RICCO) Collegiate competition, and joins them in the fall for a solo performance. She received First Prize, Lynne Clarke Vocal Prize, in the Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition in 2019, as well Eastman's Ornest Award in 2018.
Kelly Whitesell’s have included Monica in The Medium (UConn Opera, March 2022), Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus Act 2, Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Celie in Signor Deluso, Witch in Into the Woods (ROC, December 2017), Pamina in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and many chorus credits including Die Fledermaus (UConn Opera, Winter 2022), La Boheme (UConn Opera, Summer 2021), Orfeo ed Euridice, Don Giovanni and Cendrillon. In Spring 2022, she made her professional debut as Cleopatra in George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto with Connecticut Lyric Opera (April 2022). In Spring 2023, she presents Francis Poulenc's La Voix Humaine with UConn Opera (April 2023), as well as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Connecticut Lyric Opera (May 2023). For summer, she will travel to Italy, performing Donna Anna with Greve Academy, and singing with Operavision D'Oro with Aprile Millo and Maestro Richard Bonynge.
Kelly Whitesell has enjoyed performing concert repertoire, such as the never-ending gift that is G.F. Handel's Messiah, Lowell Liebermann’s emotionally impactful Six Songs on Poems of Nelly Sachs, the delightful challenge of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232, as well as various jazz sets she tailored with her 'cats' in the Rochester, NY area. She was also soloist in Eastman School of Music: Bach Cantata Series (BWV 61 & BWV 62, November 2017).
Kelly Whitesell is also Connecticut and New York teacher certified. She taught as a long-term substitute at RHAM High School and Middle School (January 2020-June 2021), where she taught Choir, Music Theory, and developed the curriculum for History of Popular Music. She continually teaches private voice lessons virtually (since June 2020). She holds a Teaching Assistantship with the University of Connecticut, where she provides voice lessons and teaches undergraduates in 'Stage Skills for Singers' (since August 2021). Most recently, she engaged 150 high schoolers on the topic of vocal health in choral settings for a 'Young Conductor's Symposium' at UConn.
Prior to collegiate music studies, Kelly Whitesell was granted the Ensign Darling Vocal Fellowship through the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, where she studied with Jurate Svedaite-Waller, Gwendolyn Hillman, John Torrenti, Joanne Scattergood, and Ellie Ellsworth. She also enjoyed playing trumpet and Irish dancing, as well as performing many musical roles such as Dolly (Hello Dolly), Fairy Godmother (Cinderella), Marion (The Music Man), Joanne (Godspell), Reno Sweeney (Anything Goes), and Snoopy (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown).
With gratitude for the privilege and opportunities she has been granted, Kelly Whitesell loves to share the blessing of music with all. Performing a variety of repertoire from W.A. Mozart to Jerome Kern, she is a versatile singer committed to exploring humanity through vulnerability. With an understanding that both being an open-minded learner and thoughtful teacher are integral to a meaningful life in music, she seeks the relation between the calculated complexity of music and the sacred simplicity of feeling it inspires. |
