“As Poppea, Kira Neary combined shrewd dramatic instincts with a sizable soprano of striking beauty. She infused every scene with her force of personality and her deft coloratura easily encompassed the trills and roulades. This young soprano…is definitely a singer to watch.” — South Florida Classical Review
“Soprano Kira Neary as the mother…provided precocious vocal glamour one does not expect from a student.” — Vocal Arts Chicago
Soprano Kira Neary is an avid opera performer and recitalist based in New York City. In the 2024-2025 season, she made her David Geffen Hall debut as part of the Lincoln Center Fall Gala, performing as Violetta in the “Libiamo” duet from La Traviata. She also made her role debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Off-Brand Opera. Previously, she performed a concert of arias and duets with the Akkord Symphony Orchestra. She also performed a recital of music by Hugo Wolf, Juliana Hall, and Alban Berg with longtime friend and pianist Ellen Sirower in Austin, TX, as part of an ongoing recital series. Upcoming in the season, Kira will be covering the role of Fiordiligi in Bronx Opera’s production of Così fan tutte.
In the 2023-2024 season, Kira performed as Micaëla in Carmen with the Lighthouse Opera Company in the Bronx, NY, and as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Cantata Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29 at the Georgetown Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. She attended the Cévennes Lyriques festival in the south of France, where she participated in several recitals. She also performed the first iteration of her recital with Ellen Sirower in Washington, CT.
In her time at Maryland Opera Studio, Kira performed the role of Mimì in La Bohème, Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, and she covered Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Elaine O’Neill in Later the Same Evening. She also participated in the MOS scenes program, singing excerpts from Il viaggio a Reims, Don Giovanni, and Simon Boccanegra, and in their new work reading in scenes as Sara Turing in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing by Justine F. Chen. Previously in the 2022 season, she sang Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Washington Opera Society and Donna Elvira at Prague Summer Nights. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Kira sang as La Musica in Northwestern University’s online production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, entitled Orfeo Remote (directed by Joachim Schamberger, and available on YouTube). In the summer of 2019, she sang the role of Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea as a studio artist at Miami Music Festival. With Northwestern University Opera Theatre, she appeared as the Mother in David T. Little’s cutting-edge opera Dog Days conducted by Alan Pierson, and as the title role in Handel’s Theodora. She has also performed in masterclasses with Kate Lindsey, Norah Amsellem, Ana María Martínez, and Angela Meade.
A dedicated performer of new music, in the winter of 2019 Kira sang the Midwest premiere of Kate Soper’s The Ultimate Poem is Abstract with Northwestern University’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the baton of Benjamin Bolter. With BCE, she sang the First Wren in a workshop of The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing with Chicago Opera Theater.
Kira graduated in 2023 from the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland with her Master of Music degree, studying with Kevin Short. She previously completed her undergraduate study at Northwestern University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Music in Voice and Opera Performance alongside a Bachelor of Arts in European History. She is also a graduate of Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege program. She has attended various summer programs, including Cévennes Lyriques, Prague Summer Nights, the Chautauqua School for Voice, Miami Music Festival, Russian Opera Workshop, Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti, and AIMS in Graz. She enjoys scented candles, small bowls, microwave popcorn, fantasy novels, Jane Austen, Taylor Swift, medieval nuns, and Fleetwood Mac. She can usually be found playing games with friends, scouting vegan restaurants, or rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Image: Kurt Vinion, 2022