Keely Futterer
Arkansan-born soprano Keely Futterer has been praised by Opera News as a “high-quality lyric soprano with a keen verbal nuance,” and has been seen in performances across the globe in China, Italy, and the United States. Career highlights of Ms. Futterer include the leading ladies of Elle in La voix humaine, the title role of Suor Angelica, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. She received critical acclaim for her role debut of Marie in La fille du régiment at Opera Saratoga, where she was reviewed as having “one of the most gorgeous voices you can imagine with charm to match. Hers [was] a performance you will remember and speak about for years.” She has also performed in an array of new operas, in addition to the classics, such as Isabella Beecher in Victoria Bond’s Mrs. President, the Witch Mother in the American premiere of Philip Glass’ The Witches of Venice, and in 2017, she was part of the New Works Forum in NYC with American Lyric Theatre, premiering the role of Sara Turing in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing.
Ms. Futterer has also had success in competition; she won 3rd place out of over 70 competitors in Phoenix Art Network: Bologna International Voice Competition in Bologna, Italy, and was awarded an additional discretionary prize by the Varna State Opera. She was a semi-finalist at the Midwest Regional MET Auditions, won first place in the Friends of Eastman Opera Competition, was a finalist and won the Audience Favorite Award in the Rochester Classical Idol Competition, and took 2nd place for the American Prize. In recent years, she won first prize in Lyra New York’s Mozart Competition, in both the aria and art song categories, and also placed first in Opera Mississippi’s John Alexander National Vocal Competition.
A passionate interpreter of concert work, Ms. Futterer has covered Renée Fleming for the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Letters from Georgia with the Eastman Philharmonic, was the soloist for Mahler’s Symphony IV, also with the Eastman Philharmonic, and performed Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She has also been the soloist for other oratorio and concert engagements such as Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s solo cantata for soprano, BWV 51:Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Brahms’ Deutches Requiem, as well as scenes and aria concerts around the United States, China, and Italy. In 2019, Ms. Futterer had the great honor to work the Lynx Project on their Autism Advocacy Concert Series, where she performed the world debut of two song cycles, both written expressly for her voice.
Ms. Futterer is an alumna of fine training programs such as Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist Program, Tulsa Opera’s Filstrup Resident Artist Program, Opera Naples’ Coaching Intensive with Renata Scotto, and Si Parla, Sì Canta. Currently, Ms. Futterer is on the Board of Directors for Kenosha Opera Festival, where she also is the Director and Creator of their Fellowship Young Artist Program. She took her BA from Arkansas Tech University and her MM in Voice Performance and Opera Stage Direction from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Kathryn Cowdrick. In 2021, Ms. Futterer finished her doctoral degree in Vocal Performance and Literature, also from the Eastman School of Music. While an Arkansan native, Ms. Futterer calls the world her home and loves to explore it with her opera-singing husband.
