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.  She was most recently seen as the First Place Winner of the Artist Division in the 2022 Camille Coloratura Competition, and early in the year as a Regional Finalist and North Carolina District winner of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.  December 2022 will feature her debut as the Soloist in Handel's Messiah with the All Saints Episcopal Church of Brookline, Massachusetts.  In Spring 2023, Kira will take the stage staring in the title role of Handel's Alcina  with  the Boston Opera Institute.  In April 2022, Kira made her Symphony Hall debut  as the soprano soloist in Brahms' German Requiem under the baton of conductor James Burton. 

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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 If I Were You (Heggie), 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, but performances were unfortunately cancelled due to COVID 19.  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), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas).

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Active in the competition circuit, in 2022 Kira was the First Place Winner of the Camille Coloratura Competition, a Regional Finalist and 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.  Kira was the Third place winner in the 2021 Friends of Eastman Opera Competition,  Honorable Mention in the 2020 MI Opera Competition.  She has also been a Semifinalist in the 2022 Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition as well as the 2022 Jensen Foundation Competition. 

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Justly at home on the concert stage, Ms. Kaplan has enjoyed singing as the soprano soloist in several concert works.  Most recently, she made her Boston Symphony Hall premiere as the soprano soloist in Brahms Deutsches Requiem under the baton of Tanglewood Festival Chorus conductor, James Barton.  Spring 2022 featured another professional premiere for Ms. Kaplan, where she sang as the soprano soloist in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with the Rhode Island Civic Orchestra and Chorus with conductor, Joshua Rhode. Her other concert work has included singing as soprano soloist in  Haydn’s The Seasons (Eastman Philharmonia/Eastman Rochester Chorus), Honegger’s King David, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, and of course, Handel’s Messiah.

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Eager to explore new works, Ms. Kaplan has had the joy of performing several.  Most notably, in 2018, she had the honor of performing the role of Amy in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival as Young Artist, coaching the material directly with the composer himself while in residence.   This past fall, she thorought enjoyed taking a further dive into modern opera with the role of Harriet Beecher Stowe in The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace by Kamala Sankaram as a Young Artist with the Boston Opera Institute.

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Ms. Kaplan has also been a Young Artist with the 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.