Shelby Runyan

Shelby Runyan (Mezzo-Soprano) has performed a variety of musical genres and styles over the past 10 years. Classically trained, she sings on the operatic, oratorio and musical theatre stages. Her operatic roles and solo performances range from early music to contemporary composers. Most recently appearing with Operafestival di Roma in Orvieto, Italy, she performed the role of Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. In recent years she has also performed the roles of Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Ursule in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, The Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Prince Orlovsky in Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus. Her musical theatre roles include Duchess Stephanie in Maury Yeston’s Death takes a Holiday and Madame Barillot in local writer, Cody Daigle’s original work, Grand Pré. In addition to her theatrical roles, Shelby has appeared on the oratorio stage as Alto Soloist for Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, Bach’s Magnificat in D Major, Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo, and Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noêl.

Shelby’s teaching engagements include individual voice, choral music and music directing. She is an Adjunct Voice Faculty member at University of Louisiana at Lafayette and owns and operates Shelby Runyan Voice Studio where she teaches voice to a variety of performers in the Lafayette community. She has taught in general music and choral classrooms and served as music director in liturgical and musical theatre realms. Shelby received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette where she studied with Soprano, Margaret Daniel and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Louisiana State University where she studied with Soprano, Sandra Moon.