Chinese-Australian soprano Yvette Keong is a unique performer who is passionate about the ability of classical music to enliven modern society by centralizing voices that need to be heard.

Hailed as a “soaring soprano” of “clarity and promise” (Opera News) and as “one of the most exciting songstresses in the world” (Cut Common Magazine), Ms. Keong is a dynamic artist of opera, art song, concert, and contemporary repertoire. She recently made her solo recital debuts with the Carnegie Hall Citywide series and Opera Maine. This season sees her company debut leading as La Virgen del Cobre in Paola Prestini’s The Old Man and the Sea with Beth Morrison Projects at ASU Gammage and Carolina Performing Arts, and her recital debut at Merkin Hall with Classic Lyric Arts. This summer, she was a voice fellow at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, performing in recitals curated by Kevin Murphy and Graham Johnson and in masterclass with Ailyn Perez.

Other recent highlights include Third Prize at The Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder & Song Competition, First Place winner at the John Alexander Opera Mississippi Vocal Competition, the Opera Australia Prize and Merenda Legacy Prize at the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, and her debut with Annapolis Opera as Clorinda in La Cenerentola. She was previously a resident artist at the Marlboro Music Festival, alongside Mitsuko Uchida, Jennifer Johnson Cano, and Jonathan Biss.

Her deep passion for bringing forth necessary voices in opera have seen her leading in several premieres of new works, including as Iris Chang in Shuying Li’s opera When the Purple Mountains Burn in workshop at the Houston Grand Opera, La Virgen del Cobre in Paola Prestini’s The Old Man and the Sea with Beth Morrison Projects, and Hideko in Bora Yoon’s opera Handmaiden at Princeton University. She made her National Sawdust debut with Beth Morrison Projects in 21c Liederabend: Op. Senses, an interactive recital of living women composers. Ms. Keong led the creation of And Is Renewed, a recital program of all living female composers centred upon feminine creation and resilience, which premiered as part of the Women Now Festival with EXTENSITY Concert Series.

She is a recipient of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, the only musician of her year to be awarded the prize and the first singer in a decade. Ms. Keong was an inaugural Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, where she made her festival debut as the soprano soloist of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and sang as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte under the baton of Patrick Summers. She participated in SongStudio at Carnegie Hall led by Renée Fleming. She was the recipient of The Rohatyn Great Promise Award at the Eastern Region of the Metropolitan Opera Competition, and has won accolades from the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition and Opera Index Competition.

During her time at The Juilliard School, Ms. Keong performed as Adina in L’elisir d’amore, under the baton of Joseph Colaneri. She also performed as Henrietta M. in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, in a co-production by the New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Juilliard School. Previous role credits with Juilliard Opera include Musetta in La bohème and Despina in Così fan tutte. She made her Alice Tully Hall debut performing Rachmaninoff’s 6 Romances, Op. 38. Ms. Keong was a voice fellow at Music Academy of the West, where her roles included Katie and Ada in the West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. She also sang as the soprano soloist of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 at Hahn Hall.

Ms. Keong made her Carnegie Hall concert debut as a soprano soloist of Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music at Stern Auditorium under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Previous operatic roles include Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Phoebe in Scott Eyerly’s The House of Seven Gables at the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Keong has been featured in Warren Jones’ Singers and Pianists recitals, and performed as the soprano soloist of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 Lobgesang under the baton of Kent Tritle. She is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Vocal Academy.

Ms. Keong completed her Master of Music at The Juilliard School, where she is the proud recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Grant. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where she received the honorary Hugh Ross Commencement Award upon graduation, awarded to an outstanding singer of unusual promise. Ms. Keong is also a committed educator and arts advocate, joining the Operation Opera Festival at Gonzaga University as an artist-in-residence, leading in the Gluck Community Service Fellowship during her time at Juilliard, and maintaining an avid teaching studio across the USA and Australia.

Beyond her accomplishments as a singer within the operatic and concert realms, Ms. Keong also trained for over a decade as a ballerina with the Royal Academy of Dance, and as a pianist with the Australian Music Examination Board. In her spare time, she enjoys painting and drawing for loved ones (Love from Yvette), eating sushi, reading romantic fiction, and tarot reading.