Praised for her "vocal power," "youthful allure," and "clear, piercing, coloratura virtuosity," American soprano Kira Kaplan is an exciting young coloratura soprano who truly feels alive on the stage. In May 2023, she was the proud grant recipient and winner of the prestigious Schuyler Foundation Career Bridges Grant Competition and Awards. She was recently seen as the New England Region Finalist and Boston District Winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Council and the First Place Winner of the Artist Division in the 2022 Camille Coloratura Competition. This spring and summer featured several title role debuts, including Alcina in Handel’s Alcina with the Boston Opera Institute and Violetta Valery in Verdi’s La Traviata with Brevard Music Center and the Janiec Opera Company. In April 2022, Kira made her Symphony Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Brahms' German Requiem.
In fall 2022, Kira starred in Ned Rorem's Our Town to rave reviews, being hailed for her "captivating tone" and "peerless, gargantuan singing." Her 2021/2022 season featured exciting role debuts, including Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Diana in Heggie’s If I Were You, and Harriet Beecher Stowe in the Boston premiere of Kamala Sankaram's The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, all with the Boston Opera Institute. She was slated to debut with the Ohio Light Company in Summer 2020 as the Princess Fantasia in Offenbach’s rarely performed Le Voyage dans la lune. Previous roles also include Madame Herz Der Schauspieldirektor, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Le Feu/Le Rossignol L’enfant et les sortilèges, Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress, and Second Woman Dido and Aeneas.
Active in the competition circuit, other awards she has won include a 2022 Regional Finalist/winner of the North Carolina District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and the William W. Watkins Encouragement Award winner of the Annapolis Opera Competition, as well as winner in the 2021 Friends of Eastman Opera Competition.
Ms. Kaplan has been a Young Artist with the Brevard Music Center (Janiec Young Artist), Ohio Light Opera, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Villa Negra Opera Festival, Mannes Opera, Capitol Opera Harrisburg, Bethesda Summer Music Festival, and the American Singers Opera Project. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Furman University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Mannes School of Music, as well as a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music as of Spring 2023.
Updated July 2023. This biography should not be reproduced without asking permission from the National Opera Studio.