Kelley O’Connor

Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation.

Highlights of the 2021-22 season include a return to the Concertgebouworkest for performances of Peter Lieberson’sNeruda Songs led by Stéphane Denève, the Mozart Requiem with Fabio Luisi conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Juraj Valčuha and the Minnesota Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Asher Fisch and the Seattle Symphony, a program of Duruflé and Canteloube with Ken-David Masur and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Jun Märkl and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra both the title role of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel led by Donald Runnicles and Mahler’s Third Symphony with Robert Spano.

Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has given the world premieres of Joby Talbot’s A Sheen of Dew on Flowers with the Britten Sinfonia, Bryce Dessner’s Voy a Dormir with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, written for Kelley O’Connor, which has been performed under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson.

She continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs having given this moving set of songs with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, with Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Robert Spano and the Minnesota Orchestra, and with David Zinman and the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich among many others.

Her vivid discography includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, Golijov’s Ainadamar, and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.