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San Diego native Theresa Kesser recently performed the title role in Marble City Opera's production of Kamala Sankaram's The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace. In the summer of 2022, she covered the title role in Richard Strauss’ Salome at Southern Illinois Music Festival, marking her transition to the soprano repertoire.
In the spring of 2020, she was granted the degree of Master of Musical Arts at Yale University, studying with Doris Yarick Cross. While at Yale Opera, she sang the roles of Paula (Florencia en el Amazonas), Larina (Eugene Onegin), and Miss Todd (The Old Maid and the Thief). She also participated in the first workshop of The Snowy Day, in conjunction with Yale Opera, composer Joel Thompson, and Houston Grand Opera.
Miss Kesser was a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap for the summers of 2018 and 2019. In her first year, she covered the role of Stephano in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and performed the role of Wallis in David Hanlon and Kathleen Kelly's Listen, Wilhelmina! She also appeared in a concert honoring Leonard Bernstein with the National Symphony Orchestra, in which she performed as a soloist in the Chichester Psalms. She returned in 2019 to cover the roles of Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Hippcratine in Gluck's L'île de Merlin, and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Having completed her Master of Music at Indiana University with dramatic soprano Jane Dutton, she sang scenes of Stephano (Romeo et Juliette), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Elizabeth Proctor (The Crucible), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), and Vera Boronel (The Consul) as well as covered La zia principessa (Suor Angelica).
She performed the role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Caren Levine and directed by Corinne Hayes, as an Apprentice Artist at the Miami Music Festival in 2017. In August 2016, she performed the title role in Dido and Aeneas and covered mezzo-soprano Renee Rapier in the role of Paula in Florencia en el Amazonas at Opera Steamboat. In April 2016, she performed the role of Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at University of Denver, Lamont School of Music, where she received the Outstanding Graduating Female Vocalist Award, Bachelor of Music and Performance Certificate.
She was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Loren L. Zachary Competition. She was selected a semi-finalist in the 2023 Musical Merit Foundation scholarship awards program. In January 2016, Miss Kesser was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Colorado/Wyoming district and received an Encouragement Award in the Rocky Mountain Region. In January 2015, she received an Encouragement Award in the MONCA, Colorado/Wyoming district.
In the summer of 2015, she participated in Opera Steamboat's Young Artist Program where she performed as the Lion and a mezzo soprano soloist in Opera Steamboat's production of Candide, conducted by Andres Cladera. She covered the roles of Julia Child in Hoiby's Bon Appétit and the Chinese teacup in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, directed by Keturah Stickann. She also participated as a Principal Artist with Utah Lyric Opera where she performed the role of Meg Page in Verdi's Falstaff and won the Death by Aria Competition. In the spring of 2015, she appeared in the new chamber opera, The Firebringers in the roles of the Creator, the Eagle, and the Moon Chief with Mile High Opera.
She has participated in masterclasses conducted by Michele DeYoung, Tobias Picker, Dolora Zajick, Johanna Meier, Anthony Laciura, Darrell Babidge, and Angela Brower.
As a member of the musical fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, she served as President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Sigma Upsilon chapter. She has studied ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, flamenco, and tango.