A district winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council

Auditions, soprano Courtney Kalbacker has delighted audiences with her

expressive tone and powerful stage presence. Originally from North

Carolina, Ms. Kalbacker received her Bachelor of Music degree from

Boston University. There, she enjoyed performing numerous choral works

under the baton of Dr. Ann Howard Jones as a soloist in works such as

Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in C, and Verdi’s Quattri

Pezzi Sacri in Boston’s renowned Symphony Hall. In the summer of 2008,

Ms. Kalbacker made her debut at Tanglewood’s Koussevitzky Shed and

Ozawa Hall as a soprano soloist in Honegger’s Le Roi David with the

Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus. Equally at home on the

operatic stage, her favorite roles range from the title role in The Ballad of

Baby Doe to “Frau Fluth” in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and even to

an early music gem -- “Melide” in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo. During a return to

the Boston area after completing her Master of Music degree at Oklahoma

City University in 2008, she was featured with such groups as the Harvard

Early Music Society, Back Back Chorale and the Boston University Marsh

Chapel Choir. An active recitalist, she has also given several high profile

collaborative recitals, including performing with baritone Simon Estes in his

hometown near Des Moines, Iowa. Ms. Kalbacker is also heavily involved

with contemporary composers, debuting award-winning song cycles, choral

works and operas within the last few years. In addition to her developing

solo career, Ms. Kalbacker has also served as an energetic member of the

voice faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute for the last four

summer seasons. There, she teaches private voice, directs opera scenes, and

has developed and implemented the “Acting and Movement for Singers”

course. Currently, Ms. Kalbacker resides in Oklahoma City with her

husband Jeffrey Gates while maintaining a private voice studio at the OCU

Performing Arts Academy and directing the Academy’s Youth Music

Theatre Company.