A “divine” (Palm Beach Post) singer with a “deliciously smooth and clear mezzo soprano,” (Parterre), Anna Kelly is quickly making a name for herself as a dynamic artist in a broad range of repertoire. 

 

In the 2025/26 season, Ms. Kelly will debut as Hänsel in Juilliard Opera’s fall 2025 production of Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Patrick Furrer and directed by Kevin Newbury. She will also cover the role of Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, and appear in recital performing Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. In concert, she joins the Phoenix Symphony for four performances of Handel’s Messiah under Tyson Deaton, sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Glacier Symphony, and performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. In summer 2026, Ms. Kelly will make her Santa Fe Opera debut as Hélène Allatini in the American premiere of Tobias Picker’s Lili Elbe, while also covering the role of Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

 

Earlier in 2025, Ms. Kelly performed with the Irish National Symphony as the second-place winner of the International Veronica Dunne Competition in Dublin, presenting works by Mozart, Strauss, and Massenet. Later that spring, she debuted as Mère Marie in Juilliard Opera’s Dialogues des Carmélites and covered the title role in L’enfant et les Sortilèges. She subsequently appeared with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra in Knoxville, performing substantial excerpts as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and as Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos. Ms. Kelly closed the spring season by receiving a Laffont Education Grant from the Metropolitan Opera. During the summer, she joined Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist, covering Waltraute in Die Walküre and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro.

 

The 2024 season marked a year of significant debuts and competition success. In January, Ms. Kelly won first prize at the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition, followed by a semifinalist appearance in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Concert of Arias. She then debuted at Sarasota Opera as Federica in Verdi's Luisa Miller, where she also covered the title role in Carmen. Later, she appeared twice at Carnegie Hall, first as mezzo-soprano soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the New England Symphonic Ensemble in Stern Auditorium, and again for the Gerda Lissner Foundation Winners Concert in Zankel Hall.

 

In summer 2024, Ms. Kelly joined Opera Saratoga, debuting as Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Agatha in Guys and Dolls, and concluded the season as a featured recitalist with the Bel Canto Society in Highlands, North Carolina, singing selections from Norma, Carmen, and Werther. That fall, as a first-year Artist Diploma candidate at The Juilliard School, she appeared in the school’s live-streamed masterclass with Isabel Leonard and in the Liederabend Series, performing a curated recital of works by Alma Mahler, Wolf, Brahms, Zemlinsky, and Korngold under the direction of Dr. Lydia Brown.

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In 2022, Ms. Kelly was a semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition after winning the New Orleans District and Gulf Coast region. That spring, she also debuted as Ruggiero in Alcina, with the Yale School of Music, before graduating with her masters. Ms. Kelly then joined the Music Academy of the West studio artist program as part of their production of Eugene Onegin. In fall 2022, Ms. Kelly took home a first place win in the 2022 Florida Grand Opera/Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition (Tier II), before joining Palm Beach Opera as a a 22/23 Bailey Apprentice Artist. While at Palm Beach Opera, Ms. Kelly covered Meg Page in Falstaff and study covered Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and performed scenes from Cendrillon and Don Giovanni. 

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Ms. Kelly opened summer 2023 with a debut solo recital at the Metropolitan Club of Washington DC, featuring works by Lully, Rameau, Bernstein, Joseph Marx, Berg, and Grieg, alongside pianist and conductor Tyson Deaton. She then joined Wolf Trap Opera's Studio Program, where she covered Athamas in Semele, study covered Siebel in Faust, and performed scenes as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, and Tisbe in Cenerentola. Ms. Kelly also performed in a number of gala concerts as a featured concert soloist with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and closed out the season with her debut as Cherubino in the Washington Opera Society’s abridged concert production of Le nozze di Figaro, in December.

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Ms. Kelly is a successful vocal competitor, and has been recognized throughout the country by multiple musical organizations and competitions. Most notably, Ms. Kelly was a semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont competition, a semifinalist in the Houston Grand Opera McCollum Competition, winner of the Albert Sherman Memorial Award at the 2023 Opera Index Competition, 3rd Place Winner in the Gerda Lissner 2023 Lieder/Art Song competition, 1st Place Winner (tier II) and Audience Favorite of the 2023 James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, first place winner of both tiers the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition (2022, 2024), and finalist in the 2023 Giulio Gari and Opera Florham competitions. 

 

In prior years, she won vocal competition scholarships from the Presser Foundation for Musical Philanthropy, the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Schmidt Vocal Competition.

 

Ms. Kelly is a graduate of esteemed young artist programs such as the Houston Grand Opera Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, Wolf Trap Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Music Academy of the West, and the Yale School of Music (2022). She joined the artist diploma program at the Juilliard School this fall and will be a member from 2024-2026.

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