About Kimberly

An emerging artist who is gaining notice for her Golden Age sound, American mezzo-soprano Kimberly Milburn is at home in a wide range of repertoire. This fall, she returns to the Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Co. as Leila in the November production of Iolanthe and covers the title role in a preview concert. In spring/summer 2024, she portrayed Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas with the Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Co., and she sang Adalgisa in a scene from Norma with the Asian American Music Society for their Kennedy Center social impact emerging artist intensive. She also performed for masterclasses with Kathleen McKellar Ferguson, Joanie Brittingham, Rick Davis, and Kyle Pfortmiller at the REACH and at the Classical Singer convention in Washington, D.C.

She began the 2022-23 season with the dell'Arte Opera Ensemble at their Finding Home Festival in both the earliest and newest of operas, appearing as Ericlea and covering the soprano role of Giunone for rehearsals in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, covering the dramatic mezzo role of Sor Rafaela for the East Coast premiere of Carla Lucero and Alicia Gaspar de Alba's Juana, and singing Carmen excerpted in concert. After completing her first fall audition season, she was invited to a fully-funded international intensive and was a soloist in concert at the REACH at Kennedy Center with the Asian American Music Society, where she also played Zita in a scene from Gianni Schicchi. In February, she made her Symphony Space debut with the Village Light Opera as Leila in lolanthe. She was also in several opera and Broadway concerts in New York and Washington, D.C., singing Dorabella, Nicklausse, Carmen, Lyubasha, Augusta Tabor, and Lilli Vanessi. In May, she returned to the Bronx Opera's outreach program to portray Mère Marie in Poulenc's 20th century masterpiece, Dialogues of the Carmelites. She was scheduled to perform Carmen outdoors with the No Strings Theatre (Toronto) in August but withdrew before the rehearsal period began due to heat-related illness.

Kimberly was born in Busan, Korea and grew up in the American South. Her first engagements were on the concert stage as soloist in Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, Bach's Easter Cantata "Der Himmel Lacht" (both with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra), and Chailley's Suite du XVe Siècle. She was previously a sommelier and made her operatic debut in 2019 as Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Weill Recital Hall (dir. Myra Cordell). She was then cast as Ludmila in The Bartered Bride (canceled due to the pandemic) with the Bronx Opera’s outreach program.

In 2021, she began studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. She then started a full year of drama school at HB Studio and joined the voice studio of Michael Paul. Her educational background includes piano with Juilliard pianist David Cooper; she was also a scholarship student of Steinway artist Victor Asunción and studied the French and Italian languages. She is currently learning to speak German at the Goethe Institut. Offstage, Kimberly is interested in food and wine, travel, current events, and fitness classes. She currently studies, teaches, performs, and makes her home in New York City.

Contact her here, or find her on ig/yt @kimbermusik