About Me:
Lily Kass is an interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and artist. In 2021, Lily was named Opera Philadelphia’s first Scholar in Residence. Lily served as a Full-Time Instructor at the Peabody Institute for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Lily has taught music history courses across the Mid-Atlantic Region, at institutions such as Temple University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Lily earned an A.B. in Literature from Harvard University in 2010, where she served on the board of all three of the campus opera companies and wrote a full singable English translation of Don Giovanni as her senior honor’s thesis.
During College, Lily spent two summers during college training as an Editorial intern for Opera News Magazine. The skills she gained through this intensive experience have served her well in her freelance editing work. Lily finds joy in helping writers formulate their ideas clearly, concisely, and engagingly. She has edited articles and books for academic authors in the humanities and in STEM fields, and she is comfortable with everything from proofreading to fact-checking to developmental editing.
After college, Lily spent a wonderful year as a Fellow for the Lectures and Community Programs department of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, promoting and developing lecture series and facilitating backstage tours of the Metropolitan Opera House, before returning to school to learn more about opera and community. Lily earned a Ph.D. in Music History from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, with a dissertation on Lorenzo Da Ponte’s work as an opera translator in 1790s London.
Lily is passionate about making opera accessible and inclusive, and she is proud to serve as Opera Philadelphia’s first Scholar in Residence, working with the Community Initiatives department. In this capacity, Lily gives lectures to patrons and writes educational materials for students and adult audience members alike. She is also a trained coloratura soprano (and graduate of the Vocal Music department of LaGuardia Arts High School in New York), and she serves as a Marian Anderson Scholar Artist with the National Marian Anderson Museum.