INTRODUCING KERRIANN OTAñO, OD'S VP OF ENGAGEMENT

Hello, Delaware! My name is Kerriann Otaño, and I'm over the moon to join OperaDelaware and this fabulous team as the Vice President of Engagement. I'd like to tell you a bit about me, my career, and what makes me most excited about living and creating opera in America's first state. I'll be keeping the ODBLOG up to date throughout the season with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes features, and fresh content twice a month. I can't wait to see you at the opera!

Kerriann Otaño, Vice President of Engagement

I was born and raised on Long Island, NY, with my two incredible parents and my equally incredible (although occasionally irritating) younger brothers. My parents raised me on a steady diet of The Jackson Five, David Bowie, Twisted Sister, Sam Cooke, Joni Mitchell, and enough musical theater to fill an early 2000’s iPod nano. This eclectic mix taught me how impactful, moving, fun, and cathartic music could be in any genre. Thanks to a beloved voice teacher, I was first introduced to opera in 9th grade. Seeing Carmen and Madama Butterfly in high school opened a new world to me. Like many people new to the opera, I initially felt intimidated. It wasn’t long after the downbeat that I realized opera was bold, LOUD, thrilling, and powerful! Whether telling stories written hundreds of years ago or written in the 21st century, opera reveals a rawness and range of human emotion that is too grand for words alone. I was overwhelmed, I was inspired, but most of all… I was hooked.

After high school, I lived in Milan, Italy, for a year thanks to the Rotary Club foreign exchange program. I attended the Conservatorio Guiseppe Verdi, learned to speak Italian, saw over a dozen performances at La Scala, and ate my body weight in pasta (worth it). That experience further cemented my love for opera and collaboration. I returned to the states and received my bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University and my master’s degree in vocal performance from Mannes the New School for Music in New York City.

In the decade that followed, I am humbled and grateful to say that I got to perform at many of the opera houses on my professional bucket list. I sang Senta in The Flying Dutchman and Leonora in Il Trovatore with Opera San Jose, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Washington National Opera, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia with Wolf Trap Opera, and many more. I covered Walkuries and Norns in The Ring Cycle at both the Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera. I recorded Bernstein’s Songfest with the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic and Wolf Trap Opera for Naxos Records. I met my incredibly talented (and handsome) husband through opera. I shared stages with my very best friends because of opera. It sounds like bragging (it’s a little bit of bragging), but opera literally opened the world to me and I’m incredibly grateful.

I love opera. But even more than that, I love opera singers and I ADORE audiences. I transitioned into arts administration in 2019 and moved into my first full-time position in 2020. Advocating for opera singers so that they can create art with authenticity, nuance, and courage is at the heart of my life’s work. Finding ways to communicate effectively with audiences so they feel welcomed and wanted in the opera house is a core mission of mine. In joining OperaDelaware, I’m beyond excited to discover new ways to engage with our existing audience and artists and to welcome new folks to this wholly unique experience. Opera is thrilling, bold, fearless (shameless plug for OperaDelaware’s upcoming workshop presentation of Derrick Wang’s new music drama, Fearless, coming this spring), and most importantly, opera is for everyone.

We can’t wait to see you at the opera!