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Kristen Brown

Soprano

Texas native Kristen Brown has been acclaimed for her “impressive, ringing soprano” (Marin Independent Journal), and hailed as “San Francisco’s up-and-coming powerhouse” (Petaluma Argus-Courier, Santa Rosa Press Democrat). Kristen made her professional debut last fall as Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with Cinnabar Opera.

After much success in mezzo-soprano repertoire such as the title role in Carmen, Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and Mistress Quickly (Falstaff), Kristen is enjoying a new repertoire of soprano roles, including Margherita (Mefistofele), Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Vanessa (Vanessa), and the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier). Kristen has been a winner of both the Senior Vocal Award in the Pacific Musical Society Competition and the East Bay Opera League Competition. Kristen has also performed with the Long Island Masterworks Choir and Orchestra as a concert soloist and scholarship winner.

Originally from Abilene, Texas, Ms. Brown holds a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she participated in Master Classes with Thomas Hampson, Jake Heggie, and Sheri Greenwald. Kristen also holds Bachelor of Science in Music Performance and Women’s Studies from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda and was the recipient of both the William Rosencrans and William Lawrence Memorial Honors Awards, in whose names she has given recitals at Hofstra. Kristen has also been given the honor of singing for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former President Clinton at Hofstra’s Presidential Conference.

Ms. Brown is an enthusiastic and active proponent of new music and choral repertoire, having performed Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Shulamit Ran’s Apprehensions, and Terry Riley’s In C in recital, as well as world premieres of pieces by Herbert Deutsch, Chandler Carter, and Nicholas Fevola. In April 2008, Kristen premiered Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames, a song cycle written for her by David Garner, and in 2009, Kristen will premiere Garner’s Medea Alone, a staged a capella work for solo voice. Kristen has been the featured soloist in concert performances of John Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, in addition to her long and happy history as a choral singer. Kristen has sung with Volti, San Francisco’s professional chamber choir for new music, and in the Schola Cantorum at San Francisco’s French National Church, Eglise de Notre Dame des Victoires. In addition to performing, Kristen’s skills in arts administration are regularly and happily employed in positions as Chorus Manager for the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco and as Program Director and Administrator for the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute. Kristen is a student of Sylvia Anderson.