Soprano Kayla White has been acclaimed for her “beautiful warm tone.” Opera roles Kayla has sung include Musetta (La bohéme), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Abigail Williams (The Crucible), and Sheep 1 (Candide). An engaging concert performer, Ms. White was a featured soloist at the Chicago Sinfonietta’s 2019 holiday concert at the Navy Pier and also at Opera America in an Emerging Artist Recital. With the Chautauqua Opera Company, she performed the title role in Rusalka, and with Sarasota Opera, she sang Oscar (Un ballo in maschera) and Violetta (La Traviata) in their young artist's concerts. Other performance credits include singing on the Oprah Winfrey Show and opening for Lalah Hathaway and Roy Ayers at the Chicago Peace Jam. She was also a featured soloist at the Atlanta Fisk Club Scholarship gala.

Kayla’s premiere at Chautauqua of O Patria Mia, by George Lam to a poem by Tyehimba Jess, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, is a career highlight. She also recorded the work at a special live performance and taping of Jess’s book Olio for Audible at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. Jess has said that Kayla’s performance was an “Amazing interpretation of my poem and a voice of an Angel.” Her awards include first place in the Georgia NATS voice competition in 2014, and first place in the local voice competition sponsored by the R. Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and Allied Arts where she advanced to the regional level placing fourth.

A native of Chicago, Kayla began her vocal training with the eminent teacher Dr. Lena McLin. She received a Bachelor of Music in Music Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Voice Performance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and her Master of Music from Georgia State University. Kayla’s advanced training and experience include the Sarasota Opera (apprentice artist), the Chautauqua Opera Company (studio artist), Le Chiavi: The Institute of Bel Canto Studies in Houston, and the American Institute for Musical Studies opera program in Graz, Austria. Kayla currently studies with Melanie Sonnenberg. More