ABOUT DANA

Dana Kinney is a multi-faceted artist working as an actor, opera director and singer based in New York City. She has performed throughout her hometown in Colorado in roles such as Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Carmen in Carmen, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. Her most recent engagements involve new works. She performed the role of “They” in Nathan Hall’s World Premiere production of Atlas of the Remote Islands and workshopped the role Rae in Don DiNicola’s new opera, Vespa. Other performances include Mercédès (Carmen), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), The Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Baba (The Medium) and Buttercup (H.M.S Pinafore). She was a finalist in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition and has received awards such as the Allied Arts’ Orville Moore Memorial Award. Ms. Kinney continues to expand her performing repertoire as an actor, writer and comedian having performed with several improv and sketch comedy teams in Denver and New York City.

Jointly, Ms. Kinney has had a bounteous directing career, having served on the directing staffs at Central City Opera, The Dallas Opera, Syracuse Opera, Boulder Opera Company, Opera Fort Collins and Loveland Opera Theatre. During her graduate studies at Colorado State University, she was rewarded The Charles and Reta Ralph Graduate Scholarship, the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship and a Graduate Teaching Assistantship in Opera where she directed a production of Signor Deluso. She was invited back as a guest stage director for the student performance of The Wandering Scholar. Additional staging credits include L’enfant et les sortilèges, L’elisir d’amore, Thunder of Horses, The Daughter of the Regiment, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Impresario, along with a plethora of selected opera scenes for young artist programs, universities and Opera in the Park events. This season, she makes her company debut with Seattle Opera, assisting Dan Wallace Miller on Pagliacci, along with Pittsburgh Opera where she’ll join as a Resident Artist Stage Director for the 2024/25 season.

She has studied at The Barrow Group, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, The People’s Improv Theater and Rise Comedy and holds a M.M in Voice Performance from Colorado State University and a B.A in music and theatre from the University of Northern Colorado.