LISTEN
BIO
Rebecca Farley, American soprano, has been praised for her poise (Opera News), her "fine, flexible soprano" (Parterre Box), and her "filigree phrasing" (Scoop NZ). She was born and raised in Kentucky where she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Kentucky. She appeared regularly on statewide television broadcasts, was a featured artist at the bicentennial celebration of the KY Governor's Mansion, and was a star soloist of the Emmy Award-winning musical revue It's a Grand Night for Singing. She performed internationally as an Alltech Scholar in Ireland, Normandy, Peru, and Mexico.
Rebecca completed her master's degree in 2017 from The Juilliard School in New York City where she was a proud Kovner Fellow. During her studies, she performed as the Controller in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Bubikopf in Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and presented rarely performed Liszt lieder with Brian Zeger at Songfest. She enjoyed studing Amina which she covered for the Met+Juilliard production of Bellini's La Sonnambula.
She made her Carnegie Hall debut December 2016 in Bach's Magnificat with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, an ensemble with which she returned to Carnegie the next season for Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium. A lover of early music, Rebecca enjoyed a wonderful relationship with Juilliard's premier baroque ensemble Juilliard415. Together they performed sixteen concerts over two international tours, one of which was conducted by leading Bach authority Masaaki Suzuki.
Upon graduating, Rebecca began coming into her own as a full lyric soprano. In January of 2018, she performed scenes from Mozart's three Da Ponte operas with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, taking on Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) all in one night. Later that year she made her west coast debut as Countess at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara conducted by James Conlon. Last season, Rebecca premiered her first full Fiordiligi in her debut with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City conducted by one of our foremost Mozart scholars, Jane Glover. Rebecca reprised the role just two months later with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ward Stare.
Notable premieres include Jonathan Breit’s concert scena Der Zippelfaggotist at Carnegie Hall and Sherry Wood's Mara: A Chamber Opera in collaboration with The Rubin Museum, New York. Rebecca made her David Geffen Hall debut in the New York premiere of Angela Rice's oratorio Thy Will Be Done. She is honored to team up with Rice again to bring the words of Emily Dickinson to life in her new song cyle ballet On This Wondrous Sea.
Rebecca holds awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Giulio Gari Foundation, the Orpheus Vocal Competition, and was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.