Our International Art Song Competition Winner 2026

Anna Kelly, Mezzo-Soprano

Praised for her "divine" (Palm Beach Post), "deliciously smooth and clear mezzo-soprano,"

(Parterre Box), and "impressive upper range” (Berkshire Eagle), Anna Kelly is a second-year

member of the Artist Diploma Program in Opera Studies at the Juilliard School and a recipient of the Tatiana Troyanos Scholarship.

In 2026, Ms. Kelly debuts as the Alto Soloist in Mahler's Symphony no. 3 with Glacier

Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and returns to

the Santa Fe Opera as Hélène Allatini in the American premiere of Tobias Picker's Lili Elbe. At

Juilliard, she covers Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff and appears in recital in Brahms’s Alto

Rhapsody and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, and with the Juilliard Orchestra as Marcellina in the

Act II Finale of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. In competition, she was a finalist in the 63rd

Annual Tenor Viñas Competition and a semifinalist in the 2026 George London Competition.

In 2025, Ms. Kelly performed at Juilliard as Mére Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites, Hänsel in

Hänsel und Gretel, and covered the title role in L'enfant et les sortiléges. She appeared in concert

with the Phoenix Symphony (Handel's Messiah), the Irish National Symphony as second-place

winner of the Veronica Dunne Competition, and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (excerpts). She received a Laffont Education Grant from the Metropolitan Opera and spent the summer as a Santa Fe Opera

Apprentice Artist, covering Waltraute in Wagner's Die Walküre and Marcellina in Le nozze di

Figaro.

In 2024, she debuted as Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Opera Saratoga) and Federica in Verdi's

Luisa Miller (Sarasota Opera), where she also covered Carmen. She made her Carnegie Hall

debut as alto soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with the New England Symphonic Ensemble.

A prizewinner in numerous competitions, Ms. Kelly has received first place awards from the

2024 National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition, 2023 James Toland

Vocal Competition, and the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition (2022 junior division

and 2024 senior division). Additional highlights include performances as a finalist in the 63rd

Annual Tenor Viñas Competition, as a semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont

Competition and 2024 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, and awards from

the Opera Index Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Loren L. Zachary

Competition. Ms. Kelly is a graduate of Yale University’s School of Music and an alumna of

Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, Palm Beach Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera

Stay tuned for her debut recital info to come at a later date.

PAST WINNER HIGHLIGHT
All 3 singers were past JIS Competition Winners:

Brooklyn Art Song Society presents A marathon performance of all three of Schubert’s song cycles in one day, capturing the towering genius of Lieder’s first and greatest composer.
Starting at 3PM, baritone Tyler Duncan and pianist Erika Switzer perform Die schöne Müllerin.
At 5PM, tenor Paul Appleby joins pianist Ken Noda (in his BASS debut) for Winterreise. And at 7PM, baritone Gregory Feldmann and pianist Michael Brofman close the day with Schwanengesang.

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JOY IN SINGING | DALTON BALDWIN

ART SONG INSTITUTE

An educational resource offering workshops and training in all facets of song and song performance (including history, technique, interpretation and deportment), Joy In Singing, the Art Song Institute, hosts a competition for singers and their pianists with a New York City Debut Recital for the winners, art song concert programs, and public Master Classes, inaugurated in 1958 by our Founder, Winifred Cecil.