Soprano KISHNA DAVIS has won wide critical and audience acclaim throughout the United States and Europe for her deeply intimate artistry, commanding vocal ability, and versatile stage presence.

In the 2002/2003 season, Davis's appearances included excerpts from Street Scene and Porgy and Bess for her debut with the Phoenix Symphony, two series of concerts with the Baltimore Symphony: an all-Gershwin celebration led by Yuri Temirkanov, and a series of Holiday concerts, a return to the Annapolis Symphony for André Previn's Honey and Rue, and Nedda in I pagliacci with Opera Memphis. Upcoming engagements include Bess in Porgy and Bess with the San Francisco Symphony as well as performances in Berlin and St. Petersburg, Russia. Davis will also sing Tosca with the Metro Lyric Opera.

Engagements in the 2001/02 season for Davis included Norina in Don Pasquale for a return to the Indianapolis Opera, Musetta in La bohème with Metro Lyric Opera, concert versions of Porgy and Bess with the Oregon Symphony and in Martinique, Gershwin concerts with the Pacific Symphony, as well as a return to her alma mater, Morgan State University for concert performances both in Maryland and on tour in Prague.

Kishna Davis made her New York City Opera debut in March of 2000 singing the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess, conducted by John de Main and has repeated the role with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Indianapolis Opera, and Virginia Opera. Other recent engagements for the soprano include the jazz-opera The Running Man in Lenox, Massachusetts, Musetta in La bohème with Connecticut Grand Opera, as well as concerts in Istanbul, Turkey. Davis also recently had her first performances of the title role in Aida with Metro Lyric Opera which was received to great critical acclaim.

A versatile concert performer, Davis' orchestral engagements have included the Cleveland Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin in concert performances of Porgy and Bess, Carmen, and a concert of the music of Duke Ellington; Clara in Porgy and Bess with the National Symphony conducted by Bobby McFerrin; the soprano solo in Leslie Dunner's Songs of a Motherless Child with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas, Baltimore and Annapolis Symphonies; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Baltimore and Jacksonville Symphonies; arias and pops concerts with the Baltimore, Annapolis, and Grand Rapids Symphonies; the soprano soloist in Duke Ellington's Sacred Music with the Cleveland Jazz Fest; Too Hot to Handel with Marin Alsop and the Colorado Symphony; a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with the New Haven Chorale; and Maria in West Side Story with the Spokane Symphony.

As a winner of the Baltimore Opera Competition, Davis was invited to appear at the Altenburg Opera Festival in Germany, where she sang the role of Medoro in Handel's Orlando, and appeared in concert scenes from La forza del destino, and Rusalka.

Davis was a member of the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera and a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she sang the title role in Carlyle Floyd's Susannah, under the baton of James Conlon. Davis is a graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, where she also received her master's degree in music.