Noted for her “plush, glowing tones, and lyrical poise”, contralto Cecelia McKinley is rising the ranks of American Opera (Arts and Culture Texas). This last Summer Ms. McKinley was a Filene Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, making her role debut as Madame de Croissy in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites in which she “turned in a hugely compelling performance, her dense contralto conveying the despair and savagery in the Mother Superior’s ravings” (Washington Classical Review). Ms. McKinley’s 2025-2026 season includes performances with Opera Lafayette in Dido and Aeneas as Second Witch, a return to Ars Lyrica Houston as Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, and a much anticipated debut with The Metropolitan Opera in a new production of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 

During her time as a Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera, Ms. McKinley workshopped and premiered three new operas through the American Opera Initiative, and performed at the Kennedy Center as Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Zweite Magd in Elektra, and Arsace in Partenope.

A lover of both crossover and concert work, Ms. McKinley’s 2024 was punctuated with roles like Mastrilla in Songbird–the franglais reimagination of Offenbach’s La Perichole–at WNO; as well as Ella/Mrs. Mister in Blitzstein’s Brechtian “play in music”, Cradle Will Rock with InSeries Opera, for which The Washington Post pinned her as a “favorite”. Her concert credits include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with ensembles such as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra , the Georgetown University Orchestra, The Denyce Graves Foundation, and the New Orchestra of Washington.

Ms. McKinley is the 2025 First Place Winner of the Opera Birmingham Competition, a 2025 finalist in the Cooper-Bing Competition, and a 2024 Semifinalist in the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition. She is also a proud Ambassador Artist of the Denyce Graves Foundation and a grant recipient of the Olga Forrai Foundation. Ms. McKinley has also participated in the Merola Opera Program, the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program, and Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices.

When not singing, Cecelia can be found at home in the DMV making a mess in her kitchen (it usually pays off).