Praised for her “brilliant and powerful” voice, lyric soprano Kirsty McLean made her solo debut at  the Royal Opera House in Janáček’s Jenůfa as Jana, conducted by Jakub Hrůša in Claus Guth’s  Olivier Award-winning production. Her other appearances for The Royal Opera include Ines in Il  Trovatore, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, and roles in the Linbury Theatre’s Bernstein double bill of  Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place, directed by the Royal Ballet and Opera’s Director of Opera,  Oliver Mears. She also covered the role of Markéta in Kaija Saariaho’s Olivier Award-winning  Innocence. Earlier appearances at the Royal Opera House include performing Jano in Jenůfa  alongside Asmik Grigorian, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. 

Upcoming engagements include her English National Opera debut, covering The Girl Angel in Du  Yun’s Angel’s Bone; Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana for the finale of the Lake District Summer  Music Festival conducted by Stephen Threlfall; and a return to Cumbria Opera Group to perform  Micaëla in Carmen. 

Recent engagements include reprising her role in Trouble in Tahiti on tour in Wales with Mid Wales  Opera, and performing The Governess in The Turn of the Screw for her company debut with  Cumbria Opera Group. 

Other roles in her repertoire include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s  Progress, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, and Melanto/Amore in Ulysses’ Homecoming. Kirsty has  also sung with many of the leading UK opera companies including English Touring Opera,  Glyndebourne, and Opera Holland Park. 

Kirsty is a Britten Pears Young Artist, Wigmore Hall Young Artist, and former Leeds Lieder Young  Artist. She made her Wigmore Hall debut in a French song recital under the guidance of Dame  Felicity Lott and François le Roux. She is a graduate of both the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of  Music & Dance and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. At Guildhall, she studied with Sarah  Pring, graduating with Distinction, having previously completed her undergraduate studies at  Trinity Laban with First Class Honours. 

Kirsty is recognised for her versatility across both opera and classical crossover, and is frequently  engaged for productions requiring a soprano equally comfortable in traditional operatic repertoire  and contemporary, pop-influenced vocal styles. Alongside her operatic work, she performs  internationally as a classical-crossover artist, appearing everywhere from luxury cruise liners to  private resorts in the Maldives. She made her solo Barbican Concert Hall debut singing with the  London Soundtrack Festival Orchestra in Jack Halama’s score for the hit television series Rivals. 

Kirsty is a featured headliner for the UK Proms in the Park Tour 2025 and was the only UK  representative to reach the semi-finals of the prestigious International Elizabeth Connell Prize for  dramatic voices, as well as a finalist in the Emmy Destinn Czech Prize. She has also been invited to  adjudicate on numerous occasions, including for the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Prize and Harrow  School.