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A Lifetime Passion for Music

Copyright 2022 © Kess O'Halloran

While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Kess struck up a musical theater collaboration with fellow admirers of Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler which morphed into the band Folk This! Folk This! toured California from its home in the Bay Area, bringing a message of hope to union halls and picket lines during the  late 1990's and early 2000's.

Kess O'Halloran was born into a large Irish catholic family and grew up in rural Connecticut. Surrounded by farmland, brooks, fields and wood, her early musical inspiration was drawn from progressive folk and country music, and the eclectic tastes of her parents, an aeronautical engineer (father) who favored jazz and blues, and artist and painter (mother) who introduced her to the classical  tradition and musical theater. She studied piano, ballet, guitar, and voice, and began writing her own songs at age 7. Wanderlust led her from Connecticut to Massachusetts, San Francisco, Seattle, the Middle East, Honolulu,  the Chicagoland area, and after a 38 hiatus, back to New England.

Kess began her professional musical theater career when cast in the Little Flags Theater production Ah, Women!  at age 21, under the direction of  Obie-award winner Maxine Klein. Kess trained with famed improvisation acting coach Gary Austin, founder of Groundling Theater (Los Angeles), also serving as his personal assistant and coordinator of the Gary Austin Seattle Workshops. She received additional training at Artistic New Directions (New York), whose faculty included Michael Gellman and Scotty Watson (The Second City). In Hawaii, she furthered her classical vocal studies with the noted vocal coaches Betty Grierson and Neva Rego of the Bel Canto School of Singing.
 

Arriving in Honolulu from Seattle in 2011, Kess made numerous appearances singing at local venues on the island, including the Hawaii Yacht Club, Plaza Club, Elks Club Waikiki and La Mariana’s.  She has shared the stage with many of Hawaii's local notable talents.

Kess  appeared in Hawaii Opera Theatre's 2018 season productions of Eugene Onegin and Romeo and Juliet. She was a member of the ensemble appearing in HOT's 2019 production of La Traviata!, starring the Hawaiian-born baritone  and MET opera star Quinn Kelsey.

Kess recently moved back to the mainland, initially settling in the Chicagoland area, before returning to her native New England roots. She is eager to begin a new chapter of her life in the vibrant theatre and musical scene now in close proximity to Boston and New York City!