Danielle McKay, D.M.A. Headshot

Academic Area

  • Vocal Performance
  • School

  • Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art
  • Danielle McKay, soprano, is hailed as having stunning high notes that resound and float delicately in her upper register (D.C. Metro Theater Metro Arts). Dr. McKay feels at home on the opera, concert, and musical theater stage. Most recently, she performed the role of Laurie Moss in The Tender Land. Previous roles include Madame Pompous in Too Many Sopranos, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Laurette in The Doctor Miracle. She also recorded the beloved duet between Violetta and Germont from La Traviata with Metropolitan opera star Patrick Carfizzi. On the concert stage, she performed the soprano solo in Respighi's Laud to the Nativity broadcasted on EWTN, the soprano solo in Górecki's second movement of Symphony No. 3 for a Kristallnacht Commemoration Concert, and the soprano solo in Brahms's Requiem. Danielle's history of musical theater includes three seasons with Artpark & Company in the ensemble of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, All Shook Up, and Fame. She also performed the role of Jeanie in Hair, under the direction of André De Shields. Dr. McKay holds a Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance from The Catholic University of America, where she studied under Metropolitan opera alumna Sharon Christman. Her Master of Music degree in vocal performance is from the University of Memphis, and her Bachelor of Music Education (K-12 band and chorus) degree is from The State University of New York College at Buffalo. Aside from teaching at CUA, she teaches vocal technique and directs the female ensemble at the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts and teaches yoga at Georgetown Law.