Peruvian-American mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra is known for her fiery stage presence and “luscious mezzo timbre” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). Following her glowing success as Maria in Astor Piazzola’s operatic masterpiece María de Buenos Aires with Kentucky Opera earlier this season, Kelly will make house debuts in 2023 with West Edge Opera as Dolores Huerta in Dolores, and Opera Omaha in Suor Angelica as La Zelatrice, as well as a return to Princeton Festival as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Kelly also joins Opera Theatre of St. Louis as a member of their new works ensemble, singing House on Mango Street.

 

A strikingly versatile performer, Kelly feels at home with many styles and eras of vocal music from Mozart to Héctor Lavoe. In the summer of 2022, Kelly reprised the role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Derrick Wang’s comic opera Scalia/Ginsburg at the Princeton Festival.

 

In the spring of 2022, she made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut under the baton of John Adams in the Noon to Midnight Contemporary Festival, and she premiered Katherine Balch’s orchestral song cycle Illuminate with the California Symphony. Kelly was lauded as “brilliant” by the Santa Barbara Independent for her performance as Lupita in the mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with Opera Santa Barbara (2021). During the 2021-2022 season she toured in the cast of (…Iphigenia) by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding in the role of Iphigenia Unbound, which was noted as “beautifully sung” (Washington Post).

 

Guerra won first place in Santa Barbara’s Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation competition in 2018, prior to her residency as a Young Artist with the Opera Santa Barbara Chrisman Studio. Also in 2018, Kelly was a recipient of a travel grant to Germany for language study from the Max Kade Foundation while completing her DMA at UC Santa Barbara. There Guerra "created a sensation" (BravoCalifornia) singing the role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.

 

As a recitalist, Guerra has been featured at the Lucerne Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, Chautauqua Symphony Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival. Guerra has performed as a soloist with several ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Garden State Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now, Contemporaneous, Opera Parallèle and BluePrint.

 

A first-generation American and native of Southern California, Kelly champions Spanish-language repertoire to welcome more diverse audiences into the concert hall.