American soprano, Claire Kuttler specializes in full lyric repertoire on the opera, recital and concert stage.
Praised for her "glistening torrents of sound" (Opera News), Iowa native Claire Kuttler enjoys a varied career on the operatic, recital and concert stage. Recent season engagements include Krysia in Jake Heggie’s Two Remain: Out of Darkness with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème with Anchorage Opera, Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Bel Cantanti Opera, guest soloist for the Opera Quad Cities Gala Concert, her soloist debut at Carnegie Hall in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with Distinguished Concert Artists of New York. For the past seven years, Claire has also been engaged with the world renowned Metropolitan Opera Chorus, and has performed in over twenty productions with the company.
Claire has performed with many wonderful companies/ensembles including Palm Beach Opera, Central City Opera, Fargo Moorhead Opera, Opera Birmingham, New Rochelle Opera, Long Island Opera, the Light Opera of New York, the Green Mountain Opera Festival, the Crested Butte Music Festival, Opera LaFayette, Bel Canto at Caramoor, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra in such roles as Mimì/La Bohème, Hanna Glawari/The Merry Widow, Micaëla/Carmen, Antonia/Les Contes D’Hoffmann, Female Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, and Alexis/The Island of Tulipatan.
In addition to classic roles of the soprano repertoire, Claire has been fortunate to sing numerous contemporary works including the role of Bea in Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera Birmingham, originating the role of Elaine O'Neill in the world premiere of John Musto’s Later the Same Evening at the Maryland Opera Studio and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Emily Webb in Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Palm Beach Opera and Samuel Barber's incomparable "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" with the Mannes Orchestra as a winner of the conservatory’s concerto competition. Another distinctly American honor was performing a solo for former President Barack Obama at his official inaugural prayer service in 2009 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.
As a voice teacher, Claire is passionate about equitable access to music education and has previously served on the voice faculties of three excellent non-profit music programs: The Highbridge Voices in the South Bronx, ArtSmart in the New York City public school system, and the California State Summer School for the Arts in Los Angeles. Claire resides in New York City and holds degrees with honors from the Mannes College of Music (Professional Studies Diploma), the University of Maryland, College Park (M.M.) and Concordia College in Moorhead, MN (B.M.).