Marble City Opera has announced that Ryan Colbert will be joining the company as its Associate Executive Artistic Director. She will begin her new role with MCO effective August 1, 2025.
Founding Executive Artistic Director of MCO, Kathryn Frady offered: “Ryan brings a wealth of experience and dedication to the opera art form coupled with a knowledge, understanding, and commitment to Marble City Opera and the Knoxville community…I am thrilled for her to join our team.”
Most recently Colbert has been acting as co-manager of Opera on Tap Philadelphia (since 2023) and Artistic Director of Delaware Valley Opera Company (since 2024). Since joining Opera on Tap Philadelphia, Colbert produced and directed the chapter’s first Philadelphia Fringe performance, Opera Shots, comprised of four one-act operas with Philadelphia ties. She produced, directed, designed, and sang in an educational outreach tour of Hansel and Gretel for students in Camden, NJ, where she taught for four years. As Artistic Director of Delaware Valley Opera Company, she is guiding the company’s 45th season through a season of firsts: a collaboration with a Baroque chamber orchestra for Dido and Aeneas, an on-site production of The Medium at the Powel House in Society Hill.
Colbert has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Tennessee, and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Delaware.
