"Making predictions about musical performances is a fool's errand, as much as handicapping presidential primaries or the Super Bowl. But it's safe to say that Portland Opera's Madame Butterfly, which opens Friday night at Keller Auditorium, promises greatness, not least because it features one of the most appealing and acclaimed singers the company has brought in recent years. A winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, rising star soprano Kelly Kaduce made her Portland Opera debut two seasons ago as Mimi in La Bohème, her signature role. 'It was Kelly Kaduce, who sang Mimi with gorgeous, open lyricism, who made the magic happen,' wrote The Oregonian's David Stabler, echoing the buzz around the performance. It's easy enough to point to good reviews; anyone singing at Kaduce's level with a halfway decent publicist can produce loads of them. But her press is noteworthy for the effusive praise she inspires even while performing two of the most well-worn roles in opera -- Mimi and Cio-Cio San, the title role of Butterfly -- and especially for critics' unanimity over finer points of her vocal beauty and control, the nuances of her acting and the strength she brings to characters distinguished principally by their vulnerability. Kaduce returns to Portland 10 months after having her first child. In a conversation last week in which she was as bright and focused as her high register, she mentioned how the physical experience of pregnancy and motherhood affected her vocally. 'Certainly I felt some changes,' she said, adding with a laugh that 'the support comes so much more easily when your abdomen is distended.' After taking four months off around the time of the birth, she said she is still rebuilding her stamina but feels that her voice has gained some fullness." [Source]
"Ask an opera singer about the state of his or her career and the usual response is an enthusiastic if generic statement of how well things are going. But the recent answer of soprano Kelly Kaduce, who is singing the lead role in Opera Colorado's production of Antonín Dvorák's Rusalka, was surprising in its candor. 'Probably like many singers, I secretly wish I was Renee Fleming and had this fabulous career and was singing all over the world in these big houses,' said Kaduce, 37, during a backstage interview at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. 'But in reality, I know I'm happy to make a living singing, and I'm happy that people want to hire me and come to hear me sing. So, there is that dichotomy about it.'" The soprano's 2010-11 season also includes performances as Violetta in La Traviata (Tulsa Opera), Mimi in La Bohème (Michigan Opera Theater) and Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (Minnesota Opera). [Source]
