Mezzo Soprano Janara Kellerman is quickly making a name for herself among opera lovers and critics often being referred to as “sultry”; “voluptuous”, “compelling”, and Opera News said she “displays a mezzo timbre velvety as the nap of a big, juicy peach”.

Ms. Kellerman recently returned fromSzeged, Hungary where she won a contract for the role of Elisabeth Proctor in The Crucible to be performed as part of a festival in Hungary in November of 2008. She was also a winner in the 2008 Liederdranz Competition.

For the 2007-2008 season Ms. Kellerman returned to New York City Opera where she was invited to sing on the Fall Gala Concert as well as to cover the title role in Carmen.  In January Ms. Kellerman stepped in last minute to sing the role of Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry, a new work by Robert Aldridge. With Augusta Opera she will sing Carmen in Le Tragedie de Carmen and she will sing Bizet’s Carmen with the Glacier Lake Symphony in Montana. She joins the Midland Symphony Orchestra singing Suzuki in a semi-staged performance of Madama Butterfly and with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra she will sing Ma Moss in The Tenderland. In June she will make her role debut singing Amneris in Aida with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre.

Ms. Kellerman had a very exciting 2006-2007 season making her title role debut in Carmen with the Des Moines Metro Opera. Critics said “with her thick black hair, smoldering gaze and brazen swagger, Kellerman casts a spell more potent than any cloud of smoke. She deftly combines her character’s dramatic sense of abandon with the score’s demand for vocal control.” She also sang Maddalena with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. In San Antonio she showed off her comedic side in the role of Ruth in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance and she covered the role of Malcolm in Rossini’s, La donna del lago at New York City Opera.