Actress/director Tonya McKinny (co-director of productions at the Glimmerglass Festival and Houston Grand Opera) and acclaimed bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (“one of the finest singers of his generation” —Opera News) share their remarkable and multi-faceted talents as the 2024-25 Aleko Endowed Master Class artists.
Opera Scenes Master Class with Tonya & Ryan McKinny
Sat, Feb 8, 2025 at 5:00pm
Shepherd School Opera students perform opera scenes and receive coaching from Tonya and Ryan McKinny in front of a live audience.
Tickets required, pay-what-you-wish starting at $0
Ryan McKinny & Friends in Recital
Fri, Mar 7, 2025 at 7:30pm
Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone
Tonya McKinny, director
Enjoy an evening of semi-staged opera highlights performed by Ryan McKinny and Shepherd School opera students.
Free, tickets required
Artists
Recognized by Opera News as “one of the finest singers of his generation,” American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny has earned his reputation as an artist with something to say. His relentless curiosity informs riveting character portrayals and beautifully crafted performances, reminding audiences of their shared humanity with characters on stage and screen.
This season, McKinny’s Joseph De Rocher, hailed by the Washington Post for his “figurative and literal muscular force” and “richly human performance” in Dead Man Walking, appears on the big screen opposite Joyce DiDonato for the Metropolitan Opera’s popular Summer HD Festival in Lincoln Center Plaza. He brings his commanding bass-baritone to a role debut as Jan Nyman in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s haunting contemporary opera Breaking the Waves at Houston Grand Opera, and he makes his company debut at Des Moines Metro Opera as the title character in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman alongside Dorothea Herbert as Senta. Additional performances include Verdi’s Requiem with Colorado Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Houston Symphony, Toledo Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Tonya McKinny started her professional life earning an undergraduate degree at Portland State University with a double major in Women’s Studies and Theatre Arts, before earning a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She also trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, the National School for Drama and Dance in New Zealand, and the National Theatre Academy of China in Beijing. Having lived and worked as an actress in New York City, she left the theater after marrying renowned American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny. In discussing her current role as wife and mother for Indirect Routes (a website regarding career paths in the arts), she explained that she now considers herself a combination of short-order cook, maid, teacher, entertainer, mediator, stealth educator, personal shopper, chanteuse, negotiator, travel agent, event planner, baker, blogger, and collaborator.