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, Tanglewood, and Washington National Cathedral. She is a Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Voice.

In high demand across the country, Michele has been a featured soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Voices of Music and The San Francisco Symphony Chorus,  Handel’s Messiah with NYC’s Trinity Wall Street Choir, Poulenc’s Gloria and Handel’s Messiah with The Bach Society of Saint Louis, Undine Smith Moore's MLK Oratorio at U.C. Berkeley, and in her Carnegie Hall debut with The Hollywood Film Orchestra.

Michele has recently debuted with Portland Baroque Orchestra in the ‘Summer Fireworks’ of Handel and Purcell, with San Francisco Ballet in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Opera Philadelphia in their Sounds of America Recital Series, and with DC’s Washington Bach Consort as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung. Her singing is highlighted on a new Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 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 Experiments in Opera, Harlem Stage Opera, Seraphic Fire, Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, The Crossing, and The New York Philharmonic.  This year, she is traveling with Lorelei Ensemble in a 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 Boston Symphony Orchestras, culminating with the National Symphony in her debut at The Kennedy Center.

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.