“Guerra’s voice is rich and sultry, radiating warmth and power, with a smoky timbre” – Isthmus News (2025)
Peruvian-American mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra continues to light up stages as a versatile and passionate performer. Summer and Fall 2025 Kelly will be portraying the iconic activist Dolores Huerta in the premieres of Dolores by Nicolás Lell Benavides and Marella Martin Koch at West Edge Opera and Opera Southwest. Dolores is also co-commission with San Diego Opera and the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.
Fall 2024 marked her debut at The Metropolitan Opera, where performed under director and choreographer Deborah Colker as one of the Niñas in a new production of Golijov's flamenco opera Ainadamar. Kelly’s 2024-25 engagements include Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with Fort Worth Opera, the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Glacier Symphony, Rosina in l Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Las Vegas, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri with Anchorage Opera and Opera in the Heights, María in María de Buenos Aires with Madison Opera, Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg with Raylynmor Opera and Mrs. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox with Opera Omaha. Kelly looks forward to her role debut as Sesto in Giulio Cesare with Opera Santa Barbara in 2026.
Other recent work includes Carlotta in Hector Armienta’s Zorro with Opera Santa Barbara, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Princeton Festival and New Jersey Light Opera, the title role in Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires with Kentucky Opera, Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg with Chautauqua Opera Company and the Princeton Festival and the title role in Luisa Fernanda with Opera Williamsburg.
A strikingly protean performer, Kelly feels at home with many styles and eras of vocal music from Mozart to Sondheim to Héctor Lavoe. She has made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut under the baton of John Adams in the Noon to Midnight Contemporary Festival, and she premiered Katherine Balch’s orchestral song cycle Illuminate with the California Symphony. Summer 2024 Kelly participated in Lindsay Mendez and Ryan Scott Oliver’s Actor Therapy, where she worked with Broadway favorites on her musical theatre chops. Kelly has been lauded as “brilliant” and “exquisite” by press for her performances as Lupita and Renata in the mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna. Guerra toured in the cast of (…Iphigenia) by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding in the role of Iphigenia Unbound, which was noted as “beautifully sung” (Washington Post).
As a recitalist, Guerra has been featured at the Lucerne Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, Chautauqua Symphony, Columbia University, the Federation of Art Song, the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Music, and the Bard Music Festival.
A first-generation American and native of Southern California, Kelly champions Spanish-language and contemporary repertoire to welcome more diverse audiences into the concert hall.
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