Kirsten C. Kunkle - Biography Q&A
A spinto soprano with an extensive lower range, she has performed extensively in many roles throughout various genres, including opera, operetta, and musical theatre. A voting member of the Muscogee Nation, Kirsten commissioned and premiered sixteen original compositions, including one of her own, based upon the poetry of her ancestor and highly-acclaimed poet of the Native American Muscogee Nation, Alex Posey, as part of her graduate studies. She has recorded extensively through the Comic Opera Guild, specializing in the works of Victor Herbert. Her recordings are collected at the Library of Congress, the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Merkel Area Museum in Merkel, Texas. She is also on the list of Classical Native American Artists and Musicians at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Some of her favorite roles are the Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Iolanta and Brigitta (Iolanta), Lisa (Pique Dame), Foreign Woman and Voice on the Record (The Consul), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief), and the Witch (Hansel and Gretel). Kirsten recently made her Carnegie Hall debut this past December as a first place winner of the American Protégé International Vocal Competition. She is represented by MIA Artists Management.