“Nothing in the evening’s latter portion could match Kinabrew’s stunning account of the Queen’s famous, revenge-maddened aria. Not only did she execute the vocal pyrotechnics with steel-hot precision, she did so in a verismo-scale act of pressing a knife into Pamina’s hands as a murderess-to-be. The aria brought the house down on Thursday. More importantly it raised the stakes of the action and made Pamina’s courage all the more heroic.”
Soprano Maggie Kinabrew will join the Glimmerglass Festival as a Resident Artist for their 50th anniversary in summer 2025, where she will cover Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress and will perform in the ensembles of The Rake’s Progress and Tosca. This season, she made her company debuts with Winter Opera St. Louis as Die Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte and The Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra as Sophie in the final trio from Der Rosenkavalier. She also returned to Palm Beach Opera for a second season, where she covered Susanna and Barbarina and made her debut as a Bridesmaid in Le nozze di Figaro.
Maggie was named a semifinalist in the 2024 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the Second Place winner in the 2024 Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Competition Junior Division, and a finalist in the 2024 Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Frances Walton Competition. In the 2023-24 season, Maggie joined Palm Beach Opera as a Cornelia T. Bailey Apprentice Artist, where she covered Clotilde in Norma, study covered the four heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann, and performed in their annual Resident Artist Showcase in scenes from Rigoletto (Gilda) and Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna). She also made her debut as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Bethesda-By-The-Sea in Palm Beach, and her company debut with Boston Opera Collaborative in their immersive horror-opera experience, Whispers: Echoes from the Halls.
In summer 2023, Maggie joined Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist, where she covered Semele in Semele and performed in the choruses of Semele and Faust. She made her professional debut in the summer of 2022 as Die Königin der Nacht at the Merola Opera Program and debuted the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with IU Opera Theater that fall.
Other operatic credits include Der Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte with IU Opera Theater, Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cunegonde in a centennial celebration of Leonard Bernstein at Oberlin Conservatory, as well as the title role in Händel’s Teseo at the Miami Music Festival. An avid performer of contemporary music, Maggie has also performed as Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Miami Music Festival and Taller Daughter in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up at Oberlin Conservatory. She has premiered many of composer Kari Watson’s works, such as Let Me Count the Signs and Black is the Color…, and gave the world premiere of Sarah Ann Marze’s Two Sewing Songs in April 2021.
On the concert stage, Maggie has performed as the soloist in the world premiere of Younje Cho’s For all we took and the soprano soloist in Unsuk Chin’s Puzzles and Games with the IU New Music Ensemble, the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis (Lord Nelson Mass) with the IU Chorale, and the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Oberlin Musical Union.
Maggie’s other accolades include being named a district winner in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and, in 2020, being named a Fulbright finalist. Maggie holds bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and voice from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a master’s degree in voice from Indiana University.