Kinneret Ely

Hi! I’m Kinneret Ely. I’m a freelance opera singer (soprano) based in New York City and Tel Aviv. In July 2023, I sang the role of Oberto in Alcina with the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio, where I also sang Violetta in La Traviata in 2018. I was a young artist with Teatro Grattacielo’s Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy in 2021, where I sang Ilia in Idomeneo alla Breve at the Rhodes International Festival in September 2021. My other performed roles include Gilda in Rigoletto, Madame Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims, and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. I created a series of concerts, including one that was broadcast on Israel’s national classical radio station, Kol HaMusica, with pianists Dan Deutsch, Ido Ariel, Jamison Livsey, Eric Sedgwick, Chun-Wei Kang, Dina Pruzhansky, and others. Recordings from those concerts, as well as from other performances of mine, have gained over 52,000 views on my YouTube channel. Some of the concerts were collaborations with other singers, and included duets and trios: with countertenor Nicholas Tamagna, baritone Suchan Kim, mezzo-soprano Rona Shrira, and tenor Pavel Suliandziga. I was a semifinalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition in 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020, and a semifinalist in the Rochester International Vocal Competition in 2020. My performed repertoire encompasses a variety of styles, from early and later Baroque, to Classical, Romantic, Verismo, 20th Century music, musical theatre, and Israeli folk songs. I love languages: I sing in 10 languages, and I am always eager to add more. 

I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Honors from Hunter College, where I graduated cum laude, designing my own degree there in languages (Italian, French, German, and Russian), history, and literature through their Thomas Hunter Honors Program. I had a successful first year of undergraduate study at the Manhattan School of Music, but I realized that I wanted a broader base in languages, literature, and history, to augment my musical education than one can get in a conservatory setting. The literary texts and languages of the pieces that I sing are an integral and important part of what I perform—not just the music. I study every language I perform in (I studied the Czech language when learning Dvořák’s Rusalka). During my undergraduate studies at Hunter College, I studied voice privately with W. Stephen Smith and Carlos Conde, and coached privately with Joan Dornemann.  Being in New York City allowed me to take advantage of its cultural riches as an additional “campus,” then and ever since. Before and during my undergraduate studies, I participated in the summer programs of the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) under Joan Dornemann and Paul Nadler for four years in Tel Aviv and Montreal, as well as in Si Parla Si Canta in Urbania, Italy, with Benton Hess, Hugh Murphy, and Robert Cowart. I then took graduate courses in voice and opera at the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College with Carlos Conde, where I sang Gilda in “Rigoletto,” and Madame Cortese in “Il Viaggio a Reims.” I studied Italian at the Società Dante Alighieri in Siena, French at the Alliance Française in Paris, German at the Goethe Institut in Berlin, and Russian at the Derzhavin Institute in St. Petersburg. During my time at the IVAI and at Si Parla Si Canta, I got to study diction with Bob Cowart, Hemdi Kfir, and Nico Castel, and to observe them coaching others. I continue to refine my own skills by studying with Daniel Belcher and Deb Birnbaum, Stefano de Peppo, and Nicholas Tamagna. 

I believe from my own experience that anyone can learn to improve in their singing – it’s a matter of having kind, compassionate guidance adapted to the specific student, and receiving good information that you can take into the practice room and apply. It’s deeply important to me to create a safe environment for my students to improve as they explore what their voice can do.