Courtney Kalbacker is a sought-after opera producer/director, educator, and performer based in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. Kalbacker focuses on creating compelling communication and connection, whether she is onstage, backstage, or in the classroom.

As a passionate educator and advocate for developing singer-actors, Kalbacker originated and taught the Acting for Singers curriculum for Boston University Tanglewood Institute for five seasons. As a current Lecturer in Voice and the director of the opera ensembles at Towson University, she produces and directs multiple productions each year and leads their touring Opera for Children Ensemble, while maintaining a full voice studio. Her private students have attended top conservatories, won national competitions, and sung in major theatres and ensembles. Recently, she has created an Opera Production Apprenticeship program between Opera Baltimore and Towson University, with the goal of giving undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to train with a local opera company.

Currently the Director of Experience and Exploration at Opera Baltimore, Kalbacker oversees the company’s the Education Programming as well as external messaging, engagement strategies, and communications. In this capacity, she designed and implemented an interactive presentation for school assemblies titled: "What is Opera? A Team!" which reaches up to 5,000 children each year in Maryland.

Kalbacker’s past directing/production experience has included positions with UrbanArias, Lyric Opera Baltimore, Peabody Opera (Peabody Institute), Baltimore Concert Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Live Arts Maryland, Silver Finch Arts Collective, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and Oklahoma City University among others. Notable engagements include directing the short comedic operas Service Provider and The Whole Truth with UrbanArias, Assistant Directing Madama Butterfly at Michigan Opera Theatre, and directing the American premiere of Errollyn Wallen's ANON for Peabody Opera. Her productions have been critical-acclaimed; in 2022 both of her stagings of Menotti’s The Telephone (Towson University) and The Consul (Opera Baltimore) were selected as National Semi-Finalists for the American Prize for Performance of American Music (Bacon Award).

A dynamic soprano herself, Kalbacker was a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She sings regularly with the Washington National Opera as a soprano chorister and principal ensemble member and has appeared locally with Annapolis Opera, Lyric Opera Baltimore, Hub Opera Ensemble, Victorian Lyric Opera, and others. Favorite past principal roles include Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos; Mrs. Ford, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor; Baby Doe, The Ballad of Baby Doe; Adele, Die Fledermaus; Mabel, The Pirates of Penzance; and Angelina, Trial by Jury. Kalbacker’s performances as the originator of the one-woman monodrama The Young Wife (by Katarzyna Brochocka) were highly acclaimed internationally at the Warsaw Chamber Opera and Kingshead Theatre, London, as well as locally at the 2013 Capital Fringe Festival. Kalbacker also greatly enjoys oratorio and has sung in the 8-person professional vocal consort, the St. David’s Singers, in Baltimore for last seven years, performing works that span music history: from Hildegard von Bingen to Bach to frequent contemporary commissions.

Courtney Kalbacker completed a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Oklahoma City University, a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Boston University, continuing education courses in Vocal Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, and a Certificate in Arts and Culture Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania and National Arts Strategies. After 15 years of teaching, performing, and directing, she recently returned to academia as a doctoral student at the University of Maryland. In the spring of 2024 she will be completing her doctorate in vocal performance, with her areas of research including the operatic/song compositions of unsung women of the early 20th century, along with the study of trauma-informed vocal pedagogy. She has presented at conferences both nationally and internationally including the National Opera Association Conference and the Institute for Russian Music Studies.

Prof. Kalbacker is a proud resident of Baltimore where she lives with her husband, baritone Jeffrey Grayson Gates, and their young daughter.