Kelly Whitesell

Kelly Whitesell, soprano

Kelly Whitesell is a Connecticut soprano whose artistry spans the operatic stage, the classroom, and the director’s chair — always, it seems, with a puppet nearby.

A versatile singing performer, Kelly brings fearless range to everything she touches. Recent highlights include her Italian debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Orchestra da Camera di Greve in Chianti, the title role of Elle in Poulenc’s La voix humaine in the round, and the comedic Phoebe in the Yeoman of the Guard with the Connecticut Gilbert and Sullivan Society. She debuted new works as a character in Welcome to Limbo: A Purcell Purgatory Pastiche, directed by the multi-talented Spencer Reese. She also portrayed Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Hartford’s Bushnell Theater with Connecticut Lyric Opera and made her professional debut as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare with the company in 2022. Other roles include Monica (The Medium), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Celie (Signor Deluso), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and a raccoon in Michael Ching’s Speed Dating Tonight!

Kelly’s work increasingly lives at the intersection of opera and puppetry. She made her puppetry debut as a singing shadow Europa in Taurus, an interdisciplinary puppet play by Joanie Papillon with original music by Philippe Dionne. Drawn to UConn’s renowned puppetry program, she collaborated as both Pamina and Queen of the Night in a marionette production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and has narrowed her doctoral dissertation to explore the relationship between opera singers and puppetry — specifically the pedagogical benefits each discipline offers the other, and what singers and puppeteers can learn from sharing the stage. In 2025, Kelly produced and directed The Watering Hole and Polar — two contemporary English operas addressing climate change — as part of UConn Opera’s collaboration with UConn Puppet Arts, originally premiered by American Opera Projects in Brooklyn, NY.

As General Director of Connecticut Lyric Opera, Kelly leads the company alongside Artistic Director Anastasia Rege in a partnership rooted in shared history — both have sung on the Connecticut Lyric stage. Together, and with the guidance of the company’s Creative Council, they are building a season that reflects the world audiences are living in, with programming that engages community, elevates new voices, and makes opera feel urgently relevant. Kelly also serves as Music Director at Old Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Bloomfield, where music serves as a vehicle for her spirituality and her voice, choral direction, and music programming serve as ministry.

Kelly completed her Master of Music in Voice & Opera at the University of Connecticut and holds dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Voice Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Katherine Ciesinski and Philip Silvey, and received the Friends of Eastman Opera First Prize Lynne Clarke Vocal Prize and the Ornest Award. She continues her doctoral studies under Rod Nelman at UConn. Prior to collegiate study, she was granted the Ensign Darling Vocal Fellowship through the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.