About Michele

Praised as “an excellent and impassioned” soprano possessing "a graceful tonal clarity that is a wonder to hear" (San Francisco Chronicle), Michele Kennedy is a versatile specialist in early and new music. Her recent venues include Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, Benaroya Hall, and Tanglewood. She is a Winner of the 2025 Berlin International Music Competition and the 2023 American Prize in Voice.

In high demand as an oratorio and recital soloist, Michele has been a featured soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with The San Francisco Symphony,  Bach’s Magnificat with Portland Baroque Orchestra, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Washington Bach Consort, Poulenc’s Gloria and Handel’s Messiah with The Bach Society of Saint Louis, and in her Carnegie Hall debut with The Hollywood Film Orchestra.

Michele has recently debuted with San Francisco Ballet in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Portland Baroque in the ‘Summer Fireworks’ of Handel and Purcell, and in Opera Philadelphia’s Sounds of America recital series. Her singing is highlighted on a new Monteverdi’s Vespers recording with The Thirteen and Dark Horse Consort, and in her solo debut album with AGAVE - called In Her Hands - showcasing an extraordinary range of female composers from over the ages, from Barbara Strozzi and Pauline Viardot to Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.

A lifelong advocate of new works, Michele has sung premieres with Seraphic Fire, Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, Experiments in Opera, The Crossing, and The New York Philharmonic. She joins Lorelei Ensemble in an ongoing world premiere tour of Julia Wolfe’s Her Story - an outspoken celebration of women’s civil rights - in concert with the Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, and National Symphony Orchestras, culminating with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. In June 2026, she returns to Carnegie Hall as a soloist in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living - truly a piece for our time.

Michele completed her musical studies at Yale University, Yale School of Music, and NYU. A lover of Redwood groves and Bay vistas, she lives with her husband, visual artist Benjamin Thorpe, and their adventurous daughter, Audra May.