“…comic showstopper…”
Black Mexican-American soprano, Kristen Marie Gillis, is a rising young artist- sharing her passion for music on concert and opera stages.
Opening her 24/25 season, Kristen will be joining Finger Lakes Opera as a Young Artist and makes her company debut as Nella in Gianni Schicchi. Along with several performances and community engagement programming, she will also be covering the leading role of Florine in the world premiere of Two Corners by B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee. Kristen will also be featured in various community engagement performances, including an “Out Loud at the M.A.G.” and FLO’s Juneteenth program. Starting in September, Ms. Gillis will join Opera Orlando’s Studio Artist program for their 24/25 “Destiny + Desire” season. In September, she will be featured in Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin - a benefit concert and presentation in honor of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida. Later, she will make her company and role debut as the Lady in Waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth. Throughout the remainder of her fall season, Kristen will join the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra as a soloist in the Young People’s Concert, presented by the Walt Disney World Resort. In the spring, Kristen will make her role debut as Noémi (Cendrillon), Sophie (Werther), Hero (Beatrice + Benedict), and cover the role of Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. In March, Ms. Gillis will be featured in a scenes program, “Mozart and More”, as part of the Opera Festival at the Timucua Arts Foundation - performing as the First Lady/Die Zauberflöte, Norina/Don Pasquale, Elvira/I Puritani, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, and Norma. In May, Kristen will be featured as a principal artist with Opera Orlando, portraying the role of Lucy in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, led Everett McCorvey and Roberta Emerson.
In her 23/24 season, Kristen made her professional debut as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Studio Artist with Central City Opera. There she was featured in scenes as Madeline (Mollicone’s Face on the Barroom Floor), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro). Ms. Gillis also performed as a Recitalist in CCO’s “Lunch & a Song” luncheon series, as well as in the ensembles in all three mainstage productions. In early October, she will compete as a Semi-Finalist (Artist Division) of the Camille Coloratura Awards, and has advanced as a Semi-Finalist in the SAS Performing Arts Company Voice Competition. Starting at the end of October, Kristen will join Opera Ithaca’s Apprentice Artist program as a Young Artist. During her time there, she will perform as the First Wood-sprite, Turnspit, and cover the titular role of Dvorak’s Rusalka. Ms. Gillis will also perform in the Apprentice Artist recital series as a part of the 2023 Opera Ithaca Festival. This spring, she will compete in the Opera Division of Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, as well as Opera at Florham’s International Vocal Competition and the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition.
In previous season, Ms. Gillis was seen on stage as Eliza/Dark Sistwrs, Countess Rosina Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro, Second Lady/Die Zauberflöte, Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi, Mutter/Hänsel und Gretel, and performed in scenes as Carolina/Il matrimonio segreto, Marschallin/Der Rosenkavalier, Donna Anna/Don Giovanni and the title roles of Strauss’ Arabella and Floyd’s Susannah. On the concert stage, she has performed as the Soprano soloist in the Messiah/Händel, Mass in C minor/Mozart, Missa Sancti Nicolai/Hadyn, and Fauré’s Requiem. In competition, Kristen was named a winner of the Career Bridges Grant Awards, the Mario Lanza Scholarship Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition/Tulsa District, awarded Third Prize in the NATS Eastern Region Student Auditions/CL-9 Advanced Treble, was a recipient of John T. Douglas Award for Young Artists/Boyer College of Music and Dance, and named a winner of the NATS Texoma Region Auditions, both in 2017 and 2018. She has also advanced in competitions such as the Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition, Opera Ithaca Edward M. Murray International Competition of Voice, and the SAS Company Vocal Competition.
Kristen has had the great privilege of working with esteemed artists such as Angel Blue and Susan Graham in their private studios, as well as Gregory Lamar, Christine Goerke, Ana María Martínez, and Barbara Hill Moore. She has also performed under the baton of Michael Sakir, Adam Turner, Danielle Jagelski, and Alexandra Enyart, among others. Ms. Gillis is an alumna of the training programs with the Castleton Festival/Vocal Immersion Program, Red River Lyric Opera/Wichita Falls, TX and Taos Opera Institute/Taos, NM.
Kristen is a Central Texas native and continues her studies with mezzo-soprano, Kathryn Leemhuis. She is a proud first-generation college graduate, holding degrees from Temple University and Abilene Christian University.
