Bethany Jelinek, soprano, is a versatile young artist praised for her “flawless vocal technique” (Onstage NTX). She is a returning resident artist with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City for the 2026/2027 season. Role debuts will include High Priestess in Verdi's Aida, Edith in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, and Barbarina in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. She will also reprise the role of Maya in Lori Laitman's Maya and the Magic Ring.
During her residency in the 2024/2025 season, she made her mainstage debut as Diana in Cruzar la Cara de la Luna and performed in the chorus of Turandot. Jelinek performed with the Lyric Opera Learning Department across the Kansas City area as Querulous String in The Haberdasher Prince and sang the role of Maya in the world premiere of Maya and the Magic Ring.
Jelinek is a 2024 Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Most recently, she was awarded third place in the inaugural Heartland Sings Vocal Competition. She was the recipient of the 2023 Jonathan Pell People’s Choice Award from the Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition, the 2022 Roy and Sue Johnson Opera Theatre Award, and the 2021 Thomas Hayward Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate singer at SMU.
Jelinek made her role and house debut in the fall of 2023, singing Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen with Western Plains Opera. She received her BM and MM in Vocal Performance from Southern Methodist University, where she has been featured in the leading roles of the Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Abigail Williams in Ward’s The Crucible, and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
Most recently, she was the Soprano Soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Minot Symphony Orchestra. In the spring of 2024, she sang in the world premiere of Efrain Amaya's "The Four Seasons in North Dakota" with the ensemble. She has performed Samuel Barber’s "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" and the world premieres of budding composer Ethan Gurwitz’s "Tales of the Cottingley Fairies" and "Echo’s Last Words" with the Meadows Wind Ensemble.