BIOGRAPHY

Internationally acclaimed light lyric soprano, Arisa Kusumi, has been praised for her "beauty, charming voice, and vivacious spirit"(The Free Times) and her ability to "touch the soul of the public." (Chemnitzer Blick).  An active performer in concert and recital repertoire, she has made appearances at the Marlboro Music Festival Concert Series, the Atlanta Pro-Mozart Society, the Austrian Embassy in Washington D.C., the Austrian Cultural Forum of NYC, Chamber Music Quad Cities, the Messiah Choral Society of Orlando, the Nantucket Arts Council, the Robert Schumann Philharmonic of Germany, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Concert Series, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland (competition winner’s concert), and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. On the contemporary music side, she has appeared with the Network for New Music in Philadelphia and has premiered works by Jan Kryzwicki.

Ms. Kusumi has amassed a wide range of experience on the opera stage, having sung in over three hundred opera performances around the world, including in Europe, the US, and Mexico. Ms. Kusumi made her opera debut in a joint production at the Vadstena Akademien Opera (Sweden) and the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg (Germany) Festivals.  As a result of her European debut success, she was invited to sing in a fest contract at the Chemnitz Opera in such roles as Waldvogel in Siegfried, Anna in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and numerous operetta roles.   She has also performed with the San Francisco Opera Center as a Resident Artist, the Halle and Osnabrück Operas of Germany, the South Carolina Opera and has been featured on radio and television broadcasts with Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk (MDR) and Inspiration Network (US), among others.

Ms. Kusumi was awarded the Verbier Festival’s Prix de L’APCAV for best singer, she was a prizewinner in the International Robert Schumann Lied Competition in Zwickau, Germany and a finalist in the Joy in Singing Competition of New York. She received her Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Carol Webber and has also studied with Benita Valente and Marni Nixon. Further education includes studies at Münchener Singschul of the Bavarian State Opera, Tito Capobianco’s Portland Opera Performing Institute, Ravinia Steans Institute, and the Goethe Institut.  Ms. Kusumi has been on the voice faculty of Rollins College and has taught masterclass and given lectures at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of South Florida, and Bob Jones University.  Her passion as a leader in music education garnered recognition when she was elected to serve as the president of Central Florida NATS for four years before being chosen to lead as NATS Florida District Governor.  In 2018, she answered her calling to promote education about classical and jazz music by founding and leading the acclaimed 501 (c)(3) nonprofit Howey Mansion Music Series to become a solid mainstay in the Central Florida live music scene.  After moving with her family to North Carolina in 2023,  she finds herself balancing an active singing career, teaching her students in her private voice studio, guest teaching at programs such as Vienna Summer Music Festival Opera Institute, TV acting and modeling, and serving as adjudicator of international voice competitions and scholarship panels.