Singer Spotlight

Kirsten C. Kunkle
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Giorgetta in "Il tabarro" 
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role? I love Puccini, and this is one of his darkest operas. "Il tabarro" has a Hitchcockian vibe to it, and I'm looking forward to creating that suspense with my colleagues onstage. 
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? The words! This opera is very wordy, with lots of dipthongs and tripthongs in speech-like patterns. 
 
Why do you love to sing opera? There is such a joy in singing some of the most beautiful music in the world. Once you add creating a character, building relationships on stage, and conveying the intense emotion behind the music, nothing else can compare. In many ways, opera allows the raw emotions that are present in humanity to be seen in a way that doesn't exist in any other medium for me. It's taking the best of music and the best of theater and combining it with glorious vocalism. Opera fulfills me in a way that nothing else can. 
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of .... I have always been a voracious reader of literature and mystery fiction. I have written and published academic papers and book reviews, but I've never actually published any of my fiction writing. It's something that I thoroughly enjoy, and if I had not been a singer, I probably would have pursued writing as a career.