Clara REEVES

Lyric soprano Clara Reeves has been praised for her “outstanding technical abilities and enveloping warm tone” (North International Music Competition). This season, Clara performed the title role in Cendrillon with CCM Opera, with critics acclaiming her as “. . . pure magic . . . with a voice full of soaring sincerity, sumptuous intimacy, and a full-bodied power . . . calling to mind greats like Maria Ewing and Frederica von Stade . . . “ (Cincinnati Classical Concert Reviews). Following her successful role debut, Ms. Reeves’ 2025-2026 season includes singing the roles of Jessie in Mahagonny-Songspiel, the Slave in Salome, completing a study-cover of Micaëla in Carmen with Cincinnati Opera, and singing Micaëla in a series of outreach projects in collaboration with Cincinnati Opera and CCM. She also recently covered Christine Goerke in a new work by composer Christopher Tin and librettist Kelly O’Rourke in a workshop with Cincinnati Opera Fusion and Washington National Opera. In the fall, Ms. Reeves will sing as Mimì in La bohème with CCM Opera.

In the 2024-2025 season, Clara appeared as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and returned to Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist, covering Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites. In the Studio Spotlight Program, she performed scenes as the title role in Rodelinda and Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles. In her first summer at Wolf Trap, Ms. Reeves covered Mimì in La bohème and performed scenes as Euridice in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice and Krysia in Two Remain by Jake Heggie. Ms. Reeves has also attended Songfest as a Brown Loranger Fellow and a Schubert Fellow, where she sang in a seminar for Libby Larsen and performed selections from Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese in a recital of American composers. She also performed a recital of Clara Schumann’s Sechs Lieder with Javier Arrebola.

Other recent engagements include singing Morgana in Alcina with Chicago Summer Opera, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with CCM Opera d’Arte, and Speranza in L’Orfeo with CCM Opera d’Arte. In 2022, Ms. Reeves debuted Michael Spiroff’s Crépuscule rustique in its world premiere with Songe d’été en Musique in Quebec, Canada, and in 2023, she performed the work in its American debut at the Long Island Guitar Festival.

Clara is in her first year as an Artist Diploma student at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she recently obtained both her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees. A three-time Corbett Competition winner, she received the Seybold Russell Award in 2025 and 2024, and the Richard I. Lauf Award in 2023. Other honors include an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Bonnie Bell Encouragement Award from the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, honorable mention in the Hal Leonard Art Song Competition, and semi-finalist in the 2023 Shreveport Opera Mary J. Smith Singer of the Year Competition.