Kelly riffin
soprano
Praised by The Wall Street Journal as “imposingly passionate,” Kelly Griffin brings her voice of considerable power and warmth to every role she embodies. This season, Ms. Griffin has garnered rave reviews as Leonore in Heartbeat Opera’s modern reimagining of Fidelio, touring the US at MetLiveArts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Mondavi Center, The Broad Stage, and The Scottsdale Performing Arts Center. She also proved her versatility with their innovative visual album, Breathing Free, highlighting music from Beethoven’s Fidelio and African-American spirituals. This season in new music, she appeared as Woman in the workshop performance of The Extinctionist by Daniel Schlosberg and Amanda Quaid. During the previous season, she was featured as the soprano soloist in Silas Farley’s American ballet, Songs from the Spirit, commissioned by MetLiveArts.
Ms. Griffin first joined Heartbeat Opera during the 2017-2018 season as Leonore in the groundbreaking production of Fidelio, featuring the voices of today’s incarcerated musicians. Opera News hailed her portrayal as “a range of emotional color and a soprano of strength and polish” and The Wall Street Journal as “imposingly passionate...carrying off ‘Abscheulicher!’ with authority." During the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Griffin debuted two new roles: Leonora in La Forza del Destino with New Amsterdam Opera, where she was lauded as having a “warm, powerful, clearly Verdian sound with a beautiful mid-range” (Parterre Box), and as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with Opera in the Heights where she was recognized as possessing, “a mezzo’s velvety sheen” (Houston Press).
Ms. Griffin has been seen as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble where the New York Observer applauded her “sailing through the treacherous role with a lean, cool soprano encompassing both pingy high notes and gutsy plunges into chest register.” She has also performed the title role of Aida in concert at the National Opera Center and joined the Metropolitan Opera Guild lecture series as Cio-Cio San and Tosca in Puccini opera previews.
Kelly has been heard in concert with the Miami Symphony Orchestra as Elettra in excerpts from Idomeneo, and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in An Evening of Spirituals. The South Florida Classical Review hailed her as having “a fierceness matched by a rounded tone and superb coordination with the orchestra.” In addition, she has been featured in concert work with the Danbury Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninov’s The Bells, Salt Marsh Opera Orchestra, and the Kalamazoo College Orchestra in Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer.