Praised for her “beautiful line and effortless high notes,” and “grounded, athletic soprano,” American Kaarin Cecilia Phelps has established herself as one of the most exciting young singers of the new generation. Recently named the 2024grand prize winner of the Concours International de Chant “Georges Enesco” where she was also awarded a special prize from composer Henri Nafilyan, this season Ms. Phelps makes her African continent debut in an Opera Gala in Tangier, Morocco.

Upcoming performances include Ortlinde / Die Walküre at Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Madame Lidoine / Dialogues des Carmélites at L’ Abbaye de Royaumont (France), Clotilda / Norma at Opéra Toulon (France), Antigone / Enescu’s Œdipe at Enescu Festival in Bucharest, 3rd Norn / Götterdämmerung and the cover of Sieglinde / Die Walküre in Wagner in Vermont Festival with TUNDI Productions, and the cover of Lady Macbeth / Macbeth at Boston Lyric Opera.

After beginning her career as a mezzo-soprano, in summer 2023, Kaarin Cecilia Phelps debuted Donna Elvira / Don Giovanni with the Festival de Samoëns (France) and turned entirely to soprano repertoire thereafter. Throughout her mezzo career, she was a standout in roles such as Isabella / L’Italiana in Algeri, Hänsel / Hänsel und Gretel, Augusta Tabor / The Ballad of Baby Doe, and the Mother / Amahl and the Night Visitors by Menotti. Noted always for her standout skills as a singing actress, Phelps excelled in various world premieres of contemporary theatre works.

In the fall of 2020, she starred in Seven Spells, written for her by Donia Jarrar for the Decameron Opera Coalition. This daring update of Boccaccio’s Decameron, a collaboration of nine U.S. Opera Houses with baritone Luca Pisaroni at the helm, garnered praise and awards including a “Freddie” from WQXR (New York Public Radio), 360° of Opera’s Best Collaboration Award, and was listed on Opera Wire’s “Top 10 Industry Defining Moments of the Year” (2020).

She performed the solos in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at Mandell Park (Houston) in 2020. Frequently invited as a soloist, Ms. Phelps has sung with Houston Masterworks Chorus in Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In 2021, Kaarin Cecilia Phelps returned to Opera in the Heights to sing Ines / Il Trovatore.

Ms. Phelps lives in Paris, France and makes frequent returns to the United States.