Committed to vibrant expressivity and genuine connection through music, NYC-based soprano Christina Kay enjoys a multifaceted career as an artist, educator, and arts administrator. A sought after multi-genre singer, she has recorded an indie folk album with the Home Port trio, given impromptu performances of bluegrass songs at farmers markets and weddings, convincingly faked being a pop singer as a core member of a cappella sextet The Western Wind, and presented florid solo versions of late Renaissance and early Baroque madrigals with ARTEK Early Music. 

 

Christina has a special interest in enlivening music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras with ornamentation and movement, a passion that led her to co-found Filigree Ensemble in 2022 with mezzo-soprano Kim Leeds. She has particularly enjoyed collaborating with mime Tony Lopresti and the Academy of Sacred Drama (dir. Jeremy Rhizor), bringing dynamic movement to performances of little-known Baroque oratorios, and has had the pleasure of performing Handel’s Messiah—one of her very favorite works—at Carnegie Hall with the MasterWork Chorus and Orchestra, where she ornamented to her heart’s content under director Chris Shepard. As an educator, Christina delights in teaching the next generation of early music specialists as a style coach at the Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College.

 

Above and beyond favorite venues and musical experiences, Christina has had the distinct pleasure of experiencing truly bizarre moments on stage. Most memorably, she was locked in a closet during a performance of Julius Eastman's Macle staged in a coal mine in the Czech Republic, and had to be rescued by climbing a ladder through the ceiling. She has also shared the stage with drones while singing the roles of actress-turned-porn-star Daphne Blueberry and “Sacrilegious Nun” in David Chesky’s La Farranucci; worn foot-tall platform shoes while delivering a semi-tonal Gertrude Stein soliloquy as Lead Singer in Petr Kotik’s Master-Pieces; and contended with bees flying up her pants during a performance of Kamala Sankaram’s Cultivars in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (no people or bees were harmed!). 

 

Beyond the stage, Christina serves as Music Associate for Advancement at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in NYC, where she heads up fundraising for the music program. She has taught private voice and piano lessons for over a decade, and spends two to three weeks each summer as a facilitator for adult choral workshops with The Western Wind. In her free time, she is an avid kick boxing fan, enjoys cooking and baking healthy gluten free recipes, walks through as many parks as possible, and occasionally tools around on the alto recorder.