Kara Shay Thomson concert is cancelled today due to illness. In her place will be Mac Frampton, improvisational pianist.

Due to illness, Kara Shay Thomson, soprano opera star and concert musician, had to cancel her engagement with Matinée Musicale as our featured performer on Sunday, March 24 at 3:00 P.M.  

To take her place Mac Frampton, pianist and jazz musician will perform.  Please go to his bio

Recognized for the natural beauty of her voice and her sense of dramatic insight, American soprano Kara Shay Thomson is proving herself a versatile and essential artist on the operatic and concert stages. As the Longboat Observer acclaimed of her Tosca, "'Vissi d'arte' began as a plaintive, quiet act of desperation and grew to an ardent, fervent plea that was both luminous and luxurious in sound, while maintaining the nuanced vocalism of a true diva. In fact, there wasn't a moment in the evening when Thomson came even close to over-singing or pushing. Her enormous voice resonated throughout the house yet she never abused her abilities and, by passionate restraint, was able to build a character who was, in every sense, a Great Woman."

Kara Shay Thomson’s 2012-13 season engagements currently include singing the title role in Tosca in a return to Kentucky Opera, in her debut with Portland Opera, and with Pensacola Opera; the role of Becky Felderman in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star with Cincinnati Opera; Sieglinde in a staged presentation of Act I of Die Walküre with Dayton Opera; Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Delaware; and Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with Opera Omaha. In 2011-12 she returned to Sarasota Opera in the title role of Vanessa, debuted with Opera New Jersey in the title role of Tosca, joined the roster of Santa Fe Opera for its production of Tosca, sang as soloist with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in excerpts from Edward Joseph Collins’ “Daughter of the South,” and as The Marschallin in excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier with Quad City Symphony. In summer of 2011 she sang as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s “The Bells” at Ravinia Festival under James Conlon.

Recent engagements include The Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung in a return to New York City Opera; Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana with Kentucky Opera; the title role in Tosca with Opera on the James; and an appearance as soloist in Dvorák’s Te Deum with the Cincinnati May Festival. She also appeared in recital with both the Cincinnati May Festival and Bethune-Cookman University; as Santuzza with Sarasota Opera; sang the title role in Tosca with Opera Delaware; returned to New York City Opera for Hugo Weisgall’s critically acclaimed Esther; sang Zemphira in Aleko with the Cincinnati May Festival; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Opera North; Tosca with Sarasota Opera, Central City Opera, and Opera North; Marietta in Die tote Stadt with Washington, DC’s Summer Opera Theatre Company; the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Toledo Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Pensacola Opera; the title role in Madama Butterfly with Colorado’s Emerald City Opera; and Musetta in La bohème with Glimmerglass Opera. Her successful debut as Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia with Chicago Opera Theater was followed by her return as Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and as Fortuna in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

Other successes include Die tote Stadt with New York City Opera; Adina in L'elisir d'amore with Dicapo Opera Theatre; Mimi in La bohème with Emerald City Opera; Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Opera Domani; the title role in Iris with Teatro Grattacielo; Micaëla in a fully-staged production of Carmen with the Amherst Symphony; the title role in Regina with Bronx Opera; Violetta in a fully-staged production of La traviata with the Sioux City Symphony; Arminda in Mozart's La finta giardiniera at Amherst College; the Daughter in a touring production of Strawberry Fields with Glimmerglass Opera; First Lady in The Magic Flute with Opera Festival of New Jersey; Marietta in the world stage-premiere of Chadwick's The Padrone; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Boston's Commonwealth Opera; and a staged interpretation of Schubert's Die Winterreise with the Jacques Thibaud Trio.

Concert engagements for Kara Shay Thomson have included Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the National Chorale at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall; Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Muncie Symphony; Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the Green Bay Symphony; Mozart's Requiem with Albany Pro Musica; both Brahms' Requiem and Carmina Burana with the Lynchburg Symphony; Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder with the Amherst Symphony; a Wagner Concert with the Wagner Society of Washington, DC; an Opera Gala with the Green Bay Symphony; Violetta in La traviata (concert) at Wisconsin's Fox Cities Performing Arts Center; and her Carnegie Hall debut in Bach's Magnificat with the Manhattan Philharmonic.

Ms. Kara Shay Thomson resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received her Graduate Diploma in Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music.

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