American soprano, Esther Maureen Kelly, is at home performing in operas and concerts around the globe. She completed a Master of Music in Opera Performance at the University of Maryland as a member of the Maryland Opera Studio in the Spring of 2017, and has since been based out of Dallas, TX. In recent seasons, she premiered the role of Maddy in Jonathan Shin's All Things Shall Pass, and performed as Diane in Orphée aux enfers, both Amore and Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Michelle in the world premiere of Another Country. In addition to performing those roles, she also recently covered Alexandra in Regina and studied Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann. During the summer of 2019, she returned to perform with the iSING! International Young Artist Festival.

Prior to beginning graduate school, she lived in Houston, TX for a year and a half, during which time she sang with the Houston Grand Opera (HGO) Chorus and performed the role of Yum Yum in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado at St. Luke’s UMC. While singing with HGO, she was a chorus member in both Verdi’s Aida and Otello, in the U.S. premier of Weinberg’s opera, The Passenger, as well as in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

A graduate of Pepperdine University, she received her Bachelor’s of Art in Music degree in the Spring of 2013. In 2011 she made her debut on the Pepperdine stage singing the role of Alma March in Little Women, and was again there in 2012 as a chorus member in Die Fledermaus. Over the past few summers, Ms Kelly has attended iSING! International Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, OperaNEO, Pepperdine University’s Heidelberg program, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. These programs granted her the opportunity to perform scenes from Idomeneo, Il viaggio a Reims, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Così fan tutte, The Music Shop, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Otello, as well as a fully staged and orchestrated production of Le nozze di Figaro, in which she was Contessa Almaviva.

When she was fourteen years old, Esther Maureen Kelly was fortunate to begin her opera career as a Bridesmaid and chorister in Le nozze di Figaro, followed by La Traviata and Turandot, which was put on by the Singapore Lyric Opera in Singapore’s national opera house, The Esplanade.

Ms. Kelly is thankful to have worked with outstanding music teachers and coaches. When in Singapore, she studies with Khor Ai Ming, but has also had the immense pleasure of working with Barbara Clark, Linda Mabbs, Lois Alba, and Melanie Emelio.