Ryan Colbert
Associate Executive Artistic Director
Knoxville - July 29, 2025 Marble City Opera is proud to announce the appointment of Ryan Colbert as the Associate Executive Artistic Director. She will begin her new role with Marble City Opera August 1, 2025.
“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,” Founding Executive Artistic Director, Kathryn Frady says, “She is the perfect person to help continue the legacy of making opera accessible through new and traditional operas and I am thrilled for her to join our team.”
Ryan Colbert has a wealth of operatic experience from performing, directing, producing, teaching, and costume and concept design. Colbert began her work as an arts administrator during her undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she co-founded and led VolOpera, a student organization to give undergraduate voice students stage opportunities. 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. Additionally, 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.
As a soprano, Colbert has premiered many new roles such as Sappho in Patricia Wallinga’s “The Sisters,” Rosie in Frank Pesci’s “Royal Flush,” Nile in J Marchand Knight’s “Cleopatra Built,” Mrs. Webster in Griffin Candey’s “Sweets by Kate.” Traditional repertoire includes the roles of Suor Angelica, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Mimi (La Bohème), and Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro).
Colbert says, “In 2013, Kathryn took a chance on me by asking me to be the assistant stage manager of The Gift of the Magi. That opportunity changed my life. I have carried my formative days with Marble City Opera in my heart every step of my career. Taking on this new position feels like coming home, and I am thrilled at the opportunity ahead!”
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.