Kristin Renee Young, lyric coloratura soprano, is a versatile vocal artist lauded for her “effervescent” and “terrific” performances (Boston Arts Fuse). According to The Boston Musical Intelligencer, Young “has a voice to conjure with” and is "a true artist."
Kristin opened this season as Sophia in VALIS, an opera written by Tod Machover and stage directed by Jay Schieb, at MIT Media Lab. She sang in a staged version of Statues in London by Matthew Recio with New Camerata Opera. In Spring 2024, she will perform with Opera Essentia as Alceste in a version of Handel’s Admeto.
In 2022-2023, Kristin made her international debut in the role of Lucy in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, arranged by Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth, at the Luminato Festival and TO Live. She also debuted the role of Zerbinetta in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos with Barn Opera and performed the soprano solo in Schubert’s Stabat Mater with the Colby Symphony Orchestra and Chorale.
In the 2021-2022 season, Kristin made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as a member of the Extra Chorus in Boris Godunov and Porgy and Bess. She also performed Queen of the Night in Black Flute, a reimagined version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, in a film production with IN Series.
Other recent highlights include a debut with Asolo Repertory Theater as Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes; and a debut with New York City Opera as Williams in the premier of Stonewall by Iain Bell and Mark Campbell at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.
Kristin was a 2018 recipient of The Marc and Eva Stern - Los Angeles Opera Fellowship at SongFest. She has also performed with American Lyric Theater, Ardea Arts, Beth Morrison Project, Center for Contemporary Arts, Corkscrew Theater Festival, Encompass New Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, Harlem Opera Theater, International Brazilian Opera Company, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Opera Company of Brooklyn, Orchestra of Indian Hill, Orquesta Brasileira de Arte, Cultura, e História, Philadelphia Sinfonia Players, Rites of Spring Festival, and Symphony 21.
Roles performed include Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Constance (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Despina (Così fan tutte), Maria (West Side Story), Monica (The Medium), Mrs. Julian (Owen Wingrave), Nanetta (Falstaff), Norina (Don Pasquale), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Zerlina (Don Giovanni).
Kristin has worked with several conductors, including Neviton Barros, Kalena Bovell, Neal Goren, Carolyn Kuan, Bruce Hangen, and Lidiya Yankovskaya; directors, such as Weyni Mengesha, John de los Santos, and Jennifer Williams; and has sung in master classes with Phyllis Curtin, Margo Garrett, Jake Heggie, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, David Kneuss, and Thomas Muraco.
In addition to her singing work, Kristin made her professional voiceover debut in 2022 as narrator in a performance of a chamber work by Gretchen Yanover at Carnegie Hall.
Kristin’s love for music began with the violin at age five and evolved into a passion for the vocal arts. She received a master’s degree from Boston University and graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University. Kristin hails from Philadelphia and currently resides in Brooklyn, where she is also a certified yoga instructor.