Described by Opera UK as a "heroine [with] poise, expressive singing, excellent vocalism, and a dark and full tone", Canadian soprano Kirsten MacKinnon has captured the attention of audiences across North America and Europe. Recent performances include her company debuts with Pacific Opera Victoria for Britten’s Turn of the Screw (Governess), Vancouver Opera for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), and both Opéra de Montréal and Teatro Regio Torino for Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Countess). The 2024/2025 season also saw her return to the Canadian Opera Company for the titular role of Bilodeau’s La reine-garçon.

On the concert stage, recent seasons included engagements with the Naples Philharmonic and Orchestre symphonique de Québec for Beethoven’s Ninth, the North Carolina Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino for Bruckner’s Te Deum, and Orchestre symphonique de Laval for a program of operatic excerpts.

Particularly celebrated for her interpretations of Mozart, Kirsten has performed Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Festival), Countess in Le nozze di Figaro (Oper Frankfurt, Garsington Opera, Curtis Opera Theatre), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Garsington Opera, Canadian Opera Company), and Elettra in Idomeneo (Curtis Opera Theatre).

Ms. MacKinnon made her debut with Oper Frankfurt in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine as Inès, and their collaboration grew to include engagements for the Countess Madeleine in Strauss’ Capriccio, Hanna Glawari in Léhar’s Die lustige Witwe, and Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, which she also performed for Opera Philadelphia. Kirsten’s further repertoire includes Mimi in La bohème, Iolanta, Mrs. Gobineau in The Medium, and Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which she performed with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and subsequently toured to Beijing.

Kirsten has had the pleasure of performing under the batons of Zubin Mehta, Alexander Shelley, Carrado Rovaris, George Manahan, Benjamin Schwarz, Johannes Debus, Simon Rivard, Nicolas Ellis, Matthias Foremny and Ari Pelto, in engagements with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Curtis Chamber Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, among others. In recital, she has also performed in Vancouver, Philadelphia, New York, Bayreuth, Neumarkt, and Spoleto. She looks forward her upcoming recital program, featuring works by Marx and Fauré, later in 2026.

MacKinnon was the grand prize winner of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the second place winner of the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, and the first prize winner of the 2016 George London Foundation. Originally from Vancouver, she is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, and an alumna of the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie. She is grateful for the support of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers, and the Licia Albanese IVC Grants in her early career.

January 2026
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