Kelley O'Connor

Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon as she is in new works of modern masters. In the 2020-21 season, O’Connor was engaged to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, California Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, among others.

Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, O’Connor has given the world premieres of Joby Talbot’s A Sheen of Dew on Flowers with the Britten Sinfonia at the Victoria & Albert Museum and Bryce Dessner’s Voy a Dormir with Robert Spano leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for O’Connor, and she has performed the work under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson.

Operatic highlights include the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia presented by Boston Lyric Opera, Carmen with Los Angeles Opera, and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madama Butterfly at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston, Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company. O’Connor also enjoys a vivid recital career, including programs of Brahms, Purcell, Stravinsky, Debussy, Massenet, Ravel, Chausson, and Bernstein.