Kristin L. Roach (she/her)

Kristin Roach is a Grammy-nominated pianist and international conductor with 40+ new operas and 20+ world premieres under her baton. She has received nine American Prize nominations, including first prize in Opera Conducting and first prize in Opera Production, and fifteen productions she has conducted have received awards from the National Opera Association. She serves as Assistant Professor of Music (Vocal Coach and Opera Conductor) at Lawrence University, and conducts worldwide, with a repertoire of over one hundred operas spanning five centuries.

Upcoming conducting engagements include Cosi fan tutte for Tulsa Opera and La Rondine for La Music Lirica.

A champion of contemporary opera, Ms. Roach has most recently conducted the world premiere of Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire's A Nearer Mother, about the life of AIDS activist, Ruth Coker Burks. Other new opera credits include Leanna Kirchoff's The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret (Midwest premiere), Kamala Sankaram's Thumbprint for Chautauqua Opera Company, Henry Mollicone’s Ladybird: First Lady of the Land and Children of the Sun (world premiere) and Children of the Sun (orchestration premiere), Michael Ching’s Speed Dating Tonight! (orchestration premiere and six numbers commissioned), Joseph Julian Gonzales’ Fundaciones de Bexar (world premiere), James Ballentine’s Navarro (world premiere), Leo Chadburn’s Gold Space City of God (world premiere), and Myron Fink’s Conquistador (world premiere).

As Founding Music Director of Alamo City Opera, where she served from 2012 to its closure in 2019, Ms. Roach conducted seventeen productions of operas, including many South Texas premieres. A San Antonio native, she partnered with founder and General Director, the late Mark Richter, to help ACO establish an atmosphere of intimate opera. With diverse and often ground-breaking programming including fresh, energetic takes on Dido and Aeneas, Acis and Galatea, Cenerentola and the Star Trek version of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, Trouble in Tahiti, The Medium, and Laura Kaminsky’s As One, Alamo City’s productions drew hundreds, boasting an average audience age under 35, many of whom were first-time opera-goers.

In recognition of the area’s wealth of Spanish speaking residents, Alamo City also presented San Antonio’s first full-length opera in Spanish, La hija de Rappaccini by Mexican composer Daniel Catan; followed by rave reviews for Piazzolla’s “operita” Maria de Buenos Aires. ACO also developed signature collaborations which featured Ms. Roach at the piano, including Opera vs Broadway I, II, and III (featuring a wealth of local opera and musical theater talent), Opera in the Park (a free concert series in beautiful Travis Park), and songs by Dvorak and Brahms in collaboration with Alamo Arts Ballet Theater.

Additional conducting credits include Don Giovanni, Alcina, The Turn of the Screw, A Little Night Music, La Boheme, The Pirates of Penzance, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Don Pasquale, The Medium, Bastien und Bastienne/La Curandera, The Italian Lesson, Gianni Schicchi, Buoso’s Ghost, Bon Appetit, Gallantry, Prince Orlovsky’s Ball, Liszt’s Christus, and The Consul.

Ms. Roach has prepared productions for the San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Tulsa Opera, Utah Opera, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Brevard Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, Breckenridge Music Institute, Taos Opera Institute, Opera Theatre of Rochester, Eastman Opera Theater, Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Spotlight on Opera, and Texas Concert Opera Collective.

Acclaimed for her “revelatory” and “infectious high spirits” at the keyboard, Ms. Roach has appeared as a soloist with with the San Antonio Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, San Antonio Wind Symphony, and Eastman Philharmonia; and as chamber musician with Camerata San Antonio, Chamber Music Amarillo, Olmos Ensemble, Musical Offerings, and Cactus Pear Music Festival. She has toured Europe with the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, performing on the historic organs of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Church of the Madeleine, Ely Cathedral, Bristol Cathedral and York University.

Her recordings include the Trinity Jazz Project, a self-produced collection of her original arrangements of hymn tunes, and classical works with the New World Symphony for Decca Records and with the Eastman Wind Ensemble for Sony Classical Records. Her newest recording, released in April 2018, features her collaboration with violinist Daniel Kobialka. Her recording of chamber works by Miguel del Aguila with Camerata San Antonio, Salon Buenos Aires, was nominated for two Latin Grammy® awards.

Ms. Roach  is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Applied Music (Piano), the Performer’s Certificate in Piano, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance/Literature and Piano Accompanying/ Chamber Music.