Kirsten Lear
mezzo sporano
Kirsten Lear has led an active performing career singing in opera and musical theatre, as well as in recital, and with symphony orchestras. She graduated magna cum laude from both Carnegie- Mellon University in Theatre, and Syracuse University in Musical Theatre. Her daughter, Maya Rose Tweten is a happy 12th grader at NMSA. A frequent performer in the area, Ms. Lear’s performances as a soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony include the 2009 Viennese New Year’s Concert, De Falla’s El Amor Brujo, their highly acclaimed Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Symphony No.4 by Mahler, Canteloube’s Chants d’ Auvergne, Copland’s Old American Songs and the Alto Soloist in Handel’s Messiah. She appeared as Elsa in Theaterworks’ production of The Sound of Music at the Lensic, and as a soloist in Santa Fe Pro Musica’s Bach’s Mass in b minor and their Baroque Christmas Concerts. Ms. Lear performed in the St. John’s College Recital Series with Robert Tweten, many concerts with Santa Fe New Music, and Berio’s Folksongs with Albuquerque’s Modern Ensemble, Chatter. This spring she appeared with Jacquelyn Helin in a full recital as part of the United Church Series. Kirsten has performed often with the Taos Chamber Music Group, the most recent being Jake Heggie’s The Deepest Desire.
Ms. Lear enjoyed two seasons as an apprentice artist with the Santa Fe opera. She sang with the company as Jenny in The Beggar’s Opera, and Cousin Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore.
Kirsten’s other leading operatic roles have included: Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and Polly in Weill’s Threepenny Opera. Kirsten played the role of Alice in Wonderland in Fragments of Alice, which was filmed by Rhombus Media and broadcast on Great Performances on PBS. With the Houston Grand opera, she performed in Dialogues des Carmelites and Showboat, which toured to the Cairo opera House in Egypt.
In Musical Theatre, Kirsten has performed in many major Broadway productions including Madame Giry in the Toronto Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera, Lillian in Happy End, and Marta in Company to critical acclaim.
Kirsten’s teaching has included a private Studio in Santa Fe since 2000. She is also a voice instructor for New Mexico High School for the Arts, where she loves encouraging teenagers to follow their talents.