anna remembers sitting in the
backseat of her Opa’s Grand Marquis, listening to him hum along to Verdi’s La Traviata. An Anna whose feet barely scraped the floor of the backseat was awe-struck and thinks fondly of those years listening to opera with her grandparents. In the seventh grade, that same opera would be the first she saw live with a traveling company in Jacksonville. Opera was not readily available in her southern hometown. Still, when she saw a full opera in person, she was mesmerized by the art form.
While Anna hails from the ever-balmy and ever-sunny state of Florida, she lives in Kansas City after completing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City in May of 2024. She studies with Maria Kanyova and tackles Midwest winters to the best of her ability. She received a master's degree from the same institution and a bachelor's degree from the University of North Florida. Recently, Anna performed in her first twenty-first-century opera role as Taller in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up with UMKC Opera. Other credits include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Clarina in La cambiale di matrimonio, Sally in Die Fledermaus, and scenes as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.
Anna was cast as Mimì in La bohème with Midwest Opera Theatre and as Constance in A Certain Madness with Landlocked Opera. Both were canceled due to Covid-19. As a Young Artist with Utah Vocal Arts Academy in 2019, Anna performed as Papagena in The Magic Flute.
In the summer of 2024, Anna joined Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, as a Young Artist. There, she performed the roles of Annina in La Traviata, Beauty in a One-Act Opera setting of Beauty and the Beast, and Le Princesse/Rossignol in Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges.
As a lover of new music, Anna joined the composition department at UMKC to perform commissioned mini-operas, which premiered in May of 2023. She performed the role of Shopkeeper in Ben Baker’s opera It Ticks Down. Anna added “Director” to her resume this past spring after filming and editing Leyou Wang’s mini-opera The Emperor’s New Clothes.
As a soloist with orchestra, Ms. Mans performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the UMKC Conservatory Orchestra after winning the Chancellor’s Competition in 2020. This piece is held close to her heart as it viscerally depicts moments similar to her childhood in Northeast Florida. She was able to revisit this work with the Lenexa Community Orchestra in the summer of 2024.
Anna recently entered into the production side of opera. In January of 2024, Anna made her directorial debut in a production of Suor Angelica at UMKC. This production saw. three sold-out performances and rave reviews. In the fall of 2021, Anna was Assistant Director to Director Mo Zhou in UMKC’s production of Acis and Galatea. A lover of all things theatre and opera, Anna enjoys the opportunity to look at story-telling from several angles. She hopes to be able to do more of this work in the future alongside performing.
When not singing or preparing a role, you can find Anna practicing hot yoga at a local KC gym, trying new restaurants in the city, or chit-chatting away into a new pop-culture rabbit hole with friends.
Photos courtesy of Nicole Bissey