Nicole Kenley
Contact Information
Nicole Kenley
Voice
Phone: (713)303-3633
Office: Practice Room 34
E-mail: nicole.kenley@yahoo.com
Profile of Nicole Kenley
Nicole Kenley, Soprano, has performed extensively in the United States and Europe in various operas, concerts, and recitals. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Hardin-Simmons University, and her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she was the recipient of the Richard Tucker Award for Opera. During her studies at Eastman, she took a year’s sabbatical to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, made possible by a scholarship from the Rotary International Foundation.
Nicole has performed a wide range of roles on the operatic stage, including Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Clara in Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso with the Eastman Opera Theater. Other performances include the Mayoress in Royal Northern’s production of Jenufa, title roles in Carmen and Dido and Aeneas, Augusta in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Florence in Albert Herring. In addition, she has been a regional finalist in the prestigious MacAllister Awards and the NATSAA competition.
Ms. Kenley now lives in Houston, where she has performed with the Houston Grand Opera Chorus and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. She is frequently engaged as a soloist with local performing organizations and regularly presents solo and collaborative recitals.
Nicole is a champion of new music and has commissioned and premiered many new works. In 2008, she performed the Texas premiere of Nicholas Omiccioli’s Three Poems of Emily Dickinson at the Society of Composers Regional Conference. In addition, she has premiered two song cycles by Daniel Sigmon, Spirit Walker and Ponderings. She will soon be collaborating with Mr. Sigmon and Tenor Edward Crowell, on a new cycle for Soprano and Tenor. In 2005, she created the role of Maye in the world premiere performance of Daniel Sigmon and Edward Crowell's opera, Larkspur, performed in a collaborative production of Abilene Collegiate Opera and Lake House Opera, the latter for which she served as Artistic Director.
She is equally at home behind the scenes as a stage director. She has directed opera scenes for the Eastman Opera Theatre as well as mainstage productions of Camelot and a Rodgers and Hammerstein review for Cy-Fair College.
Nicole currently serves as the Artistic Director of Imperial Performing Arts and Sugar Land Opera (www.imperialperformingarts.org). She is a member of NATS and Sigma Alpha Iota. Ms. Kenley is married to Edward Crowell, Tenor and Executive Director of Imperial Performing Arts.