Peruvian-American mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra is known for her fiery stage presence and “luscious mezzo timbre” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). This fall and winter, Kelly will sing the title role of María in María de Buenos Aires with Kentucky Opera, premiere the opera Let’s Celebrate! with Whitesnake Projects and sing La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica at Opera Omaha. This past summer Kelly reprised the role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Derrick Wang’s comic opera Scalia/Ginsburg at the Princeton Festival, where she also sang the role of Madame Silberklang in Mozart’s The Impresario. After she “awed audiences” as RBG in Scalia/Ginsburg during their 2021 season, she returned to Chautauqua Opera for two concerts in their 2022 season. 

A strikingly versatile performer, Kelly feels at home with many styles and eras of vocal music from Mozart to Héctor Lavoe. 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, where she prepared the roles of Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Donna Rosa (ll Postino) and Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette). 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, and the Bard Music Festival. Guerra has performed as a soloist with several ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Opera Hispánica, Garden State Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now, Contemporaneous, Opera Parallèle and BluePrint. She holds a D.M.A from UC Santa Barbara, her master’s in music from the Bard College Conservatory, and her bachelor’s from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she graduated with an award of Vocal Excellence.

A first-generation American and native of Southern California, Kelly champions Spanish language repertoire to welcome more diverse audiences into the concert hall. She is represented by Gloria Parker of Insignia Artists Management. SEPTEMBER 2022