About:

Darby Clinard is an aspiring mezzo-soprano and music educator from Waterford, Virginia who is based in the New England region. Darby performs with many organizations in the Boston area, joining the ensemble of Odyssey Opera, as well as Boston Lyric Opera. Others include Boston Opera Collaborative, Nightingale Ensemble, NEMPAC Opera Project, Upper Valley Baroque, and Cantata Singers. She is currently on faculty teaching private voice and piano lessons at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA since the fall of 2023.

She graduated from New England Conservatory of Music where she received her Graduate Diploma and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance. While at NEC, she studied with Karen Holvik, and appeared as Mere Marie and Dido in the New England Conservatory of Music Opera productions of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. While at JMU, she studied with Kevin McMillan and performed the roles of Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking, and Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte. Darby’s other roles include Giannetta in Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore in the Centre of Opera Studies in Italy and Ljubica in the new Serbian opera SVADBA at New England Conservatory of Music. She is a two time NATS 1st place winner, as well as advancing as a semi-finalist at the national level.