Kaleigh Watkins

Kaleigh Watkins, soprano, is from Hamilton, NY. She is currently studying under the direction of Judith Haddon at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she will complete her Master of Music degree in Voice in May 2023. In December 2019, she graduated from Binghamton University with her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance.

In her time thus far at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, she has been an active member of the Opera Ensemble. In 2022, she covered the role of Seonbi Lee in the world-premiere of Kyong Mee Choi's opera, Pale Courage. The previous semester, she was the cover for Pamela in Daron Hagen's one-act opera, Broken Pieces, and she performed the role of Girl in Ned Rorem's Bertha. Kaleigh was also a member of the ensemble in The George Washington Suite by Daron Hagen in Fall 2021.

In 2019, she performed the role of Dido in Binghamton University Opera Ensemble’s production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She also participated in the ensemble of Puccini’s Tosca for Tri-Cities Opera. With Binghamton University’s Opera Ensemble, Kaleigh sang the roles of the Mother and the Witch in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”

In 2018, she performed the role of the Nursing Sister in Tri-Cities Opera's production of Puccini's Suor Angelica.

In 2017, Kaleigh performed the role of Katisha in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, and participated in the ensemble of Puccini's La Bohème for Tri-Cities Opera. As a member of Binghamton University's Opera Ensemble, she sang the role of Ernesto in John Davies’ The Billy Goats Gruff.

Kaleigh studied at Foothills Opera Experience for two summers at Hartwick College (2016 & 2017 consecutively), and in the summer of 2018, she attended the SummerFest Voice Program at the The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In the summer of 2018, she was also a finalist in the Classical Singer National Voice Competition, placing among the top 7 singers in her category.