Alumni Q&A: Kristin Renee Young ’04

Opera singer and theatre performer Kristin Renee Young ’04 has built a dynamic career as a vocalist that encompasses classic works, such as George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, as well as the tech-forward world of electronic opera.

No matter the experience, Young abides by the philosophy of saying “yes” to as many opportunities as possible. Recently, Young appeared in a production of Porgy and Bess at Lincoln Center in New York City, made her Chicago and Canadian stage debuts, and secured management to help further her professional career.

We recently chatted with Young about her life on stage, how she stays connected to her GFS network, and why a professional opera singer never stops being a student:

It sounds like it’s been a whirlwind few years for you! What have been some of the big highlights lately?
 

Kristin Renee Young: The last two years have been very exciting. I recently secured management, which has been a wonderful addition to my professional life; it’s great to have someone in my corner to help navigate scheduling and bounce ideas off of. I also made my Chicago debut and my Canadian debut in two productions of Treemonisha, an opera by Scott Joplin. It was a unique and powerful experience because the entire cast and most of the creative team were Black.

At the beginning of this year, I was an extra chorister in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera. It’s the second time I’ve done this project—the first was in 2021 during the pandemic—and it’s been incredible to return to it and see how I’ve grown as both a person and a musician. I also recently worked on a very cool electronic opera at MIT called VALIS. It was a fascinating intersection of science, technology, and AI, which you don’t always expect to see in opera.

What drew you to pursuing music and theatre as a career path?

I grew up in a very supportive, musical household. My mom is a retired ballet dancer and my dad is a great lover and supporter of music. I started playing the violin when I was five and played all through high school at GFS and with the Philadelphia Sinfonia.

I realized I loved to sing in middle school and started taking voice lessons outside of GFS. The "seed" for opera was actually planted somewhat inadvertently while watching the movie Pretty Woman. There is a scene where they go to see La Traviata, and I remember thinking, "That sounds so hard—I want to see if I can tackle it!" I ended up finding the score and actually sang an aria from it at GFS when I was in Upper School.

I had such rich and robust musical experiences at GFS. During my senior year, we performed Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, followed by West Side Story, where I played Maria. It was rare to have the chance to perform in an actual opera while still in high school.
–Kristin Renee Young

Opera seems so effortless on stage, but the training is intense. What does the day-to-day work look like to keep your voice in top shape?

I don’t think I’ll ever stop training. I still take regular voice lessons to maintain my vocal health and check in on my sound. In college, I majored in music but also focused heavily on languages—Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. You also have to study diction, ear training, and sight-reading. I later earned my Master’s in Vocal Performance from Boston University. While you can certainly train with private coaches, the benefit of music school is the ability to network with peers who you’ll likely run into at gigs for years.
 

Watch as Young performs Nanetta’s Aria.

Looking back at your time at GFS, were there any specific experiences that had a lasting impact on you—as a performer or as a person?

I had such rich and robust musical experiences at GFS. During my senior year, we performed Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, followed by West Side Story, where I played Maria. It was rare to have the chance to perform in an actual opera while still in high school. J

unior year, I had the privilege of singing in a production of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. I was also heavily involved in the choir, GFS A Cappella, and the orchestra. I’m forever grateful to Larry Hoenig, Lisa Burns, Yolanda Wisher, Gary White, and Allen Drew for these opportunities.

Beyond the stage, classes like Dig and Be Dug—an Essentially English course about jazz taught by Yolanda Wisher—were incredibly formative. Even classes that weren't directly about music, such as Malik Mubashshir’s class on the offshoots of Christianity where we read The Da Vinci Code, gave me a breadth of knowledge that serves me in my career today; so much of the history I learned inspired the composers, librettists, and poets who wrote the music I love to sing. My Spanish classes also initiated my interest in learning languages.
 

How have your connections to fellow GFS alumni shaped your life today?

The friendships I developed at GFS are some of the most important relationships in my life. Recently, I narrated a children’s book, Jaro and the Frog, for a commissioned piece by Jackie Cordova-Arrington ’04—a flautist I’ve known since we were two years old—and the story was written by Kara Rutledge ’05. 

It was such a full-circle moment when Jackie and I happened to be on the same subway together recently—I was headed to the Metropolitan Opera and she was going to play with the New York Philharmonic. To go from meeting at age two to working at Lincoln Center together is pretty amazing!
 

For GFS students today who are dreaming of a life in the arts, what’s the one piece of advice you’d want to share with them?

Say yes to as many performance opportunities as you can! Even if an opportunity doesn't seem perfectly aligned with your specific interests, it is so important for building your community and your network. You learn so much about yourself as an artist and what it’s like to work with others through those experiences.