Contact Kirsten at kirsten@wilmingtonconcertopera.com

She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan and has spent the bulk of her professional career teaching voice and directing operas, workshops and classes at various colleges including Shorter College and Lincoln University.

A voting citizen of the Mvskoke Nation, Kunkle has been lauded as the leading Native American soprano in today’s classical music world. She was commissioned and premiered her new art song Reclaim the Land at Yellowstone National Park’s 150th anniversary, which has been featured on All Things Considered on NPR and BBC Radio. 2023 marked both her performance debut and a composition commission with Chicago Fringe Opera and stage direction, choreography, and performance debut with Mission Opera in Los Angeles. In 2024, she was commissioned for her first instrumental work for flute and piano for Rose Bishop and Abbey Brewer as lead commissioners as part of a consortium, entitled Inspiration of the Muses, which premiered at New Music Chicago. Also in 2024, her eight-part a capella choral work entitled Mvskoke, Este’Cate: We are Still Here (Muscogee People, Native People: We are Still Here) commissioned as part of a grant for Indigenous choral music funded by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Trey Clegg Singers, premiered in Atlanta. She is part of a group of composers writing songs about chronic illness and major life moments for My Black Swan Songs, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Molly Noori of The Chronicled Voice.

She is extremely involved in new music and recently premiered the role of Ipp’osi’ in the first opera written entirely in the Chickasaw language, Loksi’ Shaali’ by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate with Canterbury Voices. Highlights of the 2024-2025 season included making her role debut in the title role of Tosca with Mission Opera and returning to Firelands Symphony Orchestra twice in the 2024-2025 season, as soloist for both the An American Salute concert and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, her Oklahoma City Philharmonic debut with the world premiere of Jerod Tate’s An American Indian Symphony, her Voices of Ascension debut in the world premiere of Danielle Jagelski’s Voices of Mannahatta, and her PostClassical Ensemble debut singing Knoxville: Summer of 1915 at the Kennedy Center in 2025.

Dr. Kunkle’s years in the field as a vocal pedagogue, director, and performer have given her an extensive knowledge of the operatic repertoire and ability to assign repertoire and cast roles to best utilize the vast talent pool that exists in the classical singer community. 

She holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, and has always been a musician and performer, making her professional dance debut at the age of 10 with the Liz Lermon Dance Exchange. While earning her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Chemistry from Oberlin College, Dr. Robinson studied voice and music theory at the Oberlin Conservatory, including a summer in Italy with the voice department’s Oberlin in Italy program, still managing to complete her degree in three years. Dr. Robinson has extensive board and nonprofit volunteer experience, ranging from a term as Guildmistress (board chair) of the Ardensingers, to serving on the board of the Quaker Hill Historic Preservation Foundation, to co-chairing the Creatives Committee of the MillSummit and serving on the MillSummit planning committee, to the DoMore24DE planning committee, and her contributions have earned her a 2021 Impact Award.