Classic Lyric Arts presents its first performance at New York's Merkin Hall on March 6, celebrating the past, present, and future of training emerging operatic artists in France, Italy, and the US for 15 years.

CLA’s finest former artists will perform alongside the most promising singers of today and tomorrow. In addition to excerpts from French opéra, Italian bel canto, and Mozart's masterworks, this concert features the US premiere of Le Parole dei Mesi, created for CLA by faculty member Raphael Fusco.

Join Classic Lyric Arts to celebrate the music of language and a new generation in opera.

Ms. Keong will be performing the soprano lead La Virgen del Cobre in Paola Prestini, Royce Vavrek, and Karmina Silec’s new opera The Old Man and the Sea in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina. The opera reimagines Hemingway’s tale, bringing the wife as the recast Virgen del Cobre, a goddess in the Afro-Caribbean faith of Santería. Yvette joins the cast alongside Nathan Gunn as Hemingway.

Composed by Paola Prestini
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Karmina Silec, director
Mila Henry, conductor

Ms. Keong will be performing the soprano lead La Virgen del Cobre in the world premiere of Paola Prestini, Royce Vavrek, and Karmina Silec’s new opera The Old Man and the Sea in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects at ASU Gammage. The opera reimagines Hemingway’s tale, bringing the wife as the recast Virgen del Cobre, a goddess in the Afro-Caribbean faith of Santería. Yvette joins the cast alongside Nathan Gunn as Hemingway.

Composed by Paola Prestini
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Karmina Silec, director
Mila Henry, conductor

Yvette will be performing in the finals of the 2023 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. The winner will be decided after performing in front of a live audience on 31 August at the Concert Hall, The Concourse, Chatswood, with the Opera Australia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fanshil.

Opera Australia Orchestra
Vladimir Fanshil, conductor

This program of music theater and jazz songbook standards uniquely taps into the 15 stage personas in RSMI’s Program for Singers as the fellows sidle up with Jeremy Kahn—one of Chicago’s busiest pianists between jazz venues and pit orchestras—and his rhythm trio. Having backed a who’s-who of big voices, Kahn and his band of bassist Larry Gray and drummer Joel Spencer will accentuate the best from each singer for a grand finale to the summer at RSMI.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Jeremy Kahn, curator, arranger, and pianist
Larry Gray, bass
Joel Spencer, drums

As a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow, Yvette performs songs by Rachmaninoff in this recital curated by Graham Johnson.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Graham Johnson, coach and curator
Nikolay Verevkin, piano

As a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow, Yvette performs pieces by Granados and Rachmaninoff in masterclass led by soprano Ailyn Perez.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Nikolay Verevkin, piano

Yvette performs excerpts from Rachmaninoff’s Six Romances Op. 38 and Granados’ La maja y el ruiseñor in recital at the Bennett Gordon Hall as a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Nikolay Verevkin, piano

This program traces the migrant experience in music ranging across songs of the Sephardim expelled from Inquisition Spain; Schubert and Schumann’s German Romantic “Wanderer”; the Africans brought forcibly to our shores; the Jewish, Irish, Italian, and Asian refugees who built 20th-century America; and today’s songs of asylum seekers fleeing Ukraine and Latin America. As a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow, Yvette performs lieder by Schumann in recital.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers
Cori Ellison, dramaturg, curator, and host
Nikolay Verevkin, piano

Ms. Keong sings a solo recital at Opera Maine as part of their Serenade series.

Noriko Yasuda, piano

Ms. Keong will be performing the soprano lead La Virgen del Cobre in Paola Prestini, Royce Vavrek, and Karmina Silec’s new opera The Old Man and the Sea in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects at Mass MoCA. The opera reimagines Hemingway’s tale, bringing the wife as the recast Virgen del Cobre, a goddess in Santería, the Afro-Caribbean faith, who was found floating on a wooden board off the coast of eastern Cuba in 1628.

In this free Sunday afternoon performance, hear rising star soprano Yvette Keong and pianist Gracie Francis at St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church. Carnegie Hall audiences recently heard this exceptional duo in Renée Fleming’s SongStudio. This recital further showcases Ms. Keong as a “soaring soprano” of “clarity and promise” (Opera News). The wide-ranging program features music by Schoenberg, Rachmaninoff, and Granados; American composer Joseph Schwantner; and a thoughtful selection of 20th- and 21st-century songs by Chinese composers Yuanren Zhang, Huang Tzu, Yi Zhou, and Qing Zhu.

Gracie Francis, piano

Ms. Keong will be performing as the lead role of Hideko in the workshop premiere of Bora Yoon’s highly-anticipated new opera Handmaiden, with libretto by award-winning poet and writer E.J. Koh (Pachinko). Handmaiden is the recipient of OPERA America’s Discovery Grant.

Ms. Keong will be singing as part of the Waterline Square summer outdoor concert series, featuring works from Roméo et Juliette.

As a resident artist of the 2022 Marlboro Music Festival, led by artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, Ms. Keong will be performing Brahms’ Drei Quartette (Op. 31) in concert.

Yvette Keong, soprano
Eira Huse, mezzo-soprano
Patrick Bessenbacher, tenor
Jarrett Porter, baritone
Lydia Brown, piano

As a resident artist of the 2022 Marlboro Music Festival, led by artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, Ms. Keong will be performing Earl Kim’s Three Poems in French in concert.

Yvette Keong, soprano
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, violin
Amy Lee, violin
Hélène Clément, viola
Chase Park, cello

As a resident artist of the 2022 Marlboro Music Festival, led by artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, Ms. Keong will be performing Max Reger’s Fünf Duette (Op. 14) in concert.

Yvette Keong, soprano
Marie Engle, mezzo-soprano
Lydia Brown, piano

As a resident artist of the 2022 Marlboro Music Festival, led by artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, Ms. Keong will be performing Libby Larsen’s Songs from Letters alongside pianist Janice Carissa after a week-long residency with the composer.

Yvette Keong, soprano
Janice Carissa, piano

Ms. Keong will be performing as part of Next Gen by Beth Morrison Projects in collaboration with National Sawdust. She will be performing new and original works commissioned by BMP for the New Gen program, established to help BMP stay connected to a new generation of composers, singers and artists.

Ms. Keong will be performing as part of Next Gen by Beth Morrison Projects in collaboration with National Sawdust. She will be performing new and original works commissioned by BMP for the New Gen program, established to help BMP stay connected to a new generation of composers, singers and artists.

Operation Opera Festival kicks off with the world premiere of the opera When the Purple Mountains Burn, exploring the connection between Iris Chang and Shiro Azuma with the Nanking Massacre in China during World War II. Music by Shuying Li, libretto by Julian Crouch, featuring soprano Yvette Keong as the lead role of Iris Chang.

Four Corners Ensemble
Glen Adsit, conductor

Operation Opera is an innovative 7-day festival institute that invites both composers and vocalists to Spokane, and centers around the performance and workshopping of contemporary operas and art songs with the Four Corners Ensemble at Gonzaga University. Ms. Keong will be the artist-in-residence for the 2022 season of the festival, working with the vocal program in masterclass.

Ms. Keong will be performing at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Winners Concert.

Ms. Keong will be opening the Women Now Festival, presented by EXTENSITY Concert Series, a spotlight festival celebrating the work and achievements of living women composers. She will be singing And Is Renewed, a recital featuring the works of all living women composers, including Libby Larsen, Tonia Ko, Jocelyn Morlock, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Thea Musgrave.

To read more about And Is Renewed, please visit Projects.

Nicole Cloutier, piano

Ms. Keong will be singing the lead role of Iris Chang in Shuying Li’s new opera When the Purple Mountains Burn with libretto by Julian Crouch, in workshop with the Houston Grand Opera.

Ms. Keong will perform as part of immersive “sensorial object” recital in a partnership between National Sawdust and Beth Morrison Projects, featuring all women composers including Missy Mazzoli, Kamala Sankaram, Molly Joyce, Ellen Reid, Du Yun, and more.

Ms. Keong will perform as part of immersive “sensorial object” recital in a partnership between National Sawdust and Beth Morrison Projects, featuring all women composers including Missy Mazzoli, Kamala Sankaram, Molly Joyce, Ellen Reid, Du Yun, and more.

Ms. Keong will be performing as Clorinda in Annapolis Opera’s production of La Cenerentola.

Craig Kier, conductor
David Lefkowich, director

Ms. Keong will be performing as Clorinda in Annapolis Opera’s production of La Cenerentola.

Craig Kier, conductor
David Lefkowich, director

Ms. Keong will be performing as the soprano soloist of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. She joins the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program as a Renée Fleming Artist, under the co-artistic direction of Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers.