I love a diverse schedule! At the beginning of the "season," there were too many variables, like contracts pending, to post. Like many people, I was very worried about what the 2026 season might hold. It's ended up being a great one so far, with more to go. Here's the first half of 2026. There may be something exciting on there I haven't announced yet, but I'm on their website and have signed the contract, so it makes it on the season post!
Photo by Julie Smith
Gown & Earrings by Dante Biss-Grayson for Sky Eagle-Collection
#Season #OperaSingersOfInstagram #Soprano
Tonight we opened Loksi' Shaali' by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate with @wilmingtonconcertopera and I am so grateful and proud of everyone involved. 💗
Tomorrow morning, I have the honor of being on the closing plenary for the OPERA America @operaamerica Conference with Rebecca Hass and Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate. What an extraordinary experience this has been. I'm so delighted to share the stage with them tomorrow.
#OperaCon #WilmingtonConcertOpera #LoksiShaali
It's been an utter whirlwind for the OPERA America Conference and Loksi' Shaali' by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - A Delaware Premiere! rehearsals, but we open tomorrow with this fabulous group of people... and I am SO excited to bring the world's first US Tribal language opera to Delaware from my Indigenous co-founded and run company Wilmington Concert Opera. A huge mvto and yakkookay to everyone making this possible. Come early (7:15 tomorrow and 1:15 on Saturday) to see Delwin Elk Bear Fiddler performing traditional dance and music, and tomorrow, stay after for a talkback led by Chef Joe Rocchi!
Photo by Kathryn Rene Wood
#WilmingtonConcertOpera #OperaCon #LoksiShaali
@operaamerica conference in #Wilmington! Let's do this! (And yes, I'm that person who takes a photo with my photo in the OA magazine). Come see ##LoksiShaali @wilmingtonconcertopera
#OperaCon #Delaware
Thank you to Martin Matheney of Delaware Public Media for taking the time to interview our Co-founder and Artistic Director, Kirsten C. Kunkle about our upcoming production of "Loksi' Shaali'" for The Green!
Make sure to join us starting at 7:15 on Thursday, May 14th and 1:15 on Saturday, May 16th to see and hear Delwin Elk Bear Fiddler performing traditional dance and music, prior to the opera. (Start times for the opera at 8 PM on the 14th and 2 PM on the 16th). We'll be at Sts. Andrew and Matthew at 719 North Shipley in downtown Wilmington, DE. Join us!
#Wilmington #Concert #Opera #Delaware #Public #Media
#LoksiShaali #FirstState #Indigenous
That moment when you get on Instagram, and your Board President has a post from the latest OPERA America Magazine, with a huge photo of your likeness on it. Talk about a great way to go into the weekend, especially since I hadn't seen it yet!
Loksi' Shaali' by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - A Delaware Premiere! is coming up soon. Make sure you're there early to see Delwin Elk Bear Fiddler performing traditional dance and music before the opera, and (on Thursday) stay for the talkback with the cast and production team, facilitated by Joe Rocchi. It's all coming up SO soon. It's going to be awesome!
Costume Design by Margaret Roach Wheeler, built by Jerica Hucke. Photo courtesy of Canterbury Voices and Oh Joy Photography.
#OperaAmerica #LoksiShaali #WilmingtonConcertOpera
I couldn't very well sing my "Un bel di" debut with orchestra in anything other than my @byvinnik #MadamaButterfly coat, could I?
#ClevelandPhilharmonicOrchestra #OperaSingersOfInstagram
I had such a wonderful time performing with Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra under my friend Maestro Dean Buck's baton today. They could not be a more gracious group of musicians. I even made friends with the sound guys (as one always should... but apparently no one does. They were so pleasantly surprised that I bothered to ask what they needed from me).
Dean is an exceptional conductor to work with as a singer. Usually when I work with a conductor, I end up gluing my eyes to them so that I can do my best to make sure I'm lining up with the orchestra. With Dean, he made sure that he was with me, and it was so incredibly liberating as a soloist. I couldn't have had the kind of performance I had today without such a conscientious conductor. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to create art with all of these fabulous musicians today.
Alongside Dean and me in this photo is the composer Margaret Brouwer, who had one of her stunning works performed on today's concert.
I will post more photos soon, but this was an excellent experience all around!
#Cleveland #Philharmonic #Orchestra
I'm grateful. I am so grateful.
I realize that most people who decide they want to sing never get to do it professionally. I am so fortunate to get to sing as a soloist, even more so that it's the most beautiful music that has ever existed.
It's not to say that I don't deserve it. I do think I deserve it. I've worked hard for nearly my whole life. I've failed.. a lot. I've overcome major obstacles, and sometimes I have to leave things at the door to go sing, then pick them up the moment I leave. I've dealt with adversity, people telling me that I'll never be good enough and shouldn't be in the room, or people just outright ignoring me. I've fought to get auditions where I've flown in, crashed on couches or paid for hotel rooms, and changed in so many public restrooms, just to sing for less than ten minutes for people on the panel who couldn't be bothered to look up from their sandwiches. I have been through a whole lot of the stuff that most people who try to sing for a living have dealt with in one way or another. But, I am grateful.
Tonight, I got to sing with the fantastic Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra again before our concert on Sunday. In addition to the fact that I get to sing with this glorious orchestra, with a most fabulous conductor, I also get to sing some of the music that I've waited my whole career to sing with orchestra. My friends, this is living the dream.
So to those of you who helped me or help me daily to get here, thank you. For those of you who are trying to get to live those dreams, keep going. Day after day. Step after step. Just keep going. At some point it begins to pay off, and wow... when it does, you get to look around and see how amazing life can be. Be humble. Be kind. Be grateful. Because you may have done the work, but you never do it alone.
I hope to see some of you on Sunday. Tickets are at the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra website. It will be a good one. I'm so grateful.
#OperaSingersfInstagram #ClevelandPhilharmonicOrchestra #Soprano
STEAL ME!
Here's another, completely different rehearsal clip from last week's Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra Rehearsal.
Make sure to join us in Westlake, OH on Sunday for the full "American Mosaic" concert.
Thanks to Maestro Dean Buck and Board President Renee Wagner for including me as their soloist!
"Steal Me, Sweet Thief" from "The Old Maid and the Thief" by Menotti
#Cleveland #Philharmonic #Orchestra #Menotti #OperaSingersfInstagram
