Kaarin Cecilia Phelps
Praised for her “beautiful line and effortless high notes,” and “grounded, athletic soprano,” American Kaarin Cecilia Phelps has established herself as one of the most exciting young singers of the new generation. Recently named the 2024 grand prize winner of the Concours International de Chant “Georges Enesco » where she was also awarded a special prize from composer Henri Nafilyan, this season Ms. Phelps makes her African continent debut in an Opera Gala in Tangier, Morocco.
She looks forward to various concerts in France and performs Clotilda / Norma at the Opera de Toulon, Antigona / Enescu’s Oedipe at Enescu festival in Bucharest, Dritte Norn / Götterdämnerung and the cover of Sieglinde / Walküre in Wagner in Vermont Festival (USA).
A lover of art song and contemporary music, Phelps performs this season in Paris at the Galerie Prodromus with her pianist, Hugo Philippeau. They will perform a new recital program, « Musiques des Sommets, » which features an eclectic mix of Finnish, American, and French art song. The same recital will take place in various locations throughout the EU.
After beginning her career as a mezzo-soprano, in summer 2023, Kaarin Cecilia Phelps debuted Donna Elvira / Don Giovanni with the Festival Lyrique de Samoëns and turned entirely to soprano repertoire thereafter. Throughout her mezzo career, she was a standout in roles such as Isabella / L’Italiana in Algeri, Hänsel / Hänsel und Gretel, Augusta Tabor / The Ballad of Baby Doe, and the Mother / Amahl and the Night Visitors by Menotti. Noted always for her standout skills as a singing actress, Phelps excelled in various world premieres of contemporary theatre works.
Kaarin Cecilia Phelps spent a year as a Resident Artist at Opera in the Heights (Houston, Texas, USA) where she took on multiple roles and concerts. In the fall of 2020, she starred in Seven Spells, written for Ms. Phelps by Donia Jarrar for the Decameron Opera Coalition. This daring update of Boccaccio’s Decameron, a collaboration of nine U.S. Opera Houses with baritone Luca Pisaroni at the helm, garnered praise and awards including a « Freddie » from WQXR (New York Public Radio), 360° of Opera’s Best Collaboration Award, and was listed on Opera Wire’s « Top 10 Industry Defining Moments of the Year » (2020). She sang Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) in concert at Houston’s White Oak Music Hall and performed the solos in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at Mandell Park (Houston) in 2020. Frequently invited as a soloist, Ms. Phelps has sung with Houston Masterworks Chorus in Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In 2021, Kaarin Cecilia Phelps returned to Opera in the Heights to sing Ines / Il Trovatore.
Ms. Phelps lives in Paris, France and makes frequent returns to the United States.
