Caroline Friend

• 2025 Boris Goldovsky Prize in Opera
• 2025 Ernest Bloch Artistic Distinction Scholarship
• 2024 Max Berman Prize in Voice
• 2024 American International Music Competition - 1st Prize, AIMC ~ Group I
• 2023 ACPC Marcella Sembrich Kochańska Competition - 2nd Prize

Caroline Friend is an American Mezzo-Soprano at the Cleveland Institute of Music studying under Dina Kuznetsova. After receiving her Bachelor's of Music and Minor in Music Theory at the same institute, Friend continues to perform in CIM Opera Theatre's main-stage operas, opera scene programs, and collaborative recitals. Her passion for theory, history, and literature has inspired her to collaborate with colleagues in opera scenes and chamber operas as stage director. Her stage roles include “Zerlina” (Don Giovanni), “Presendia” (Dark Sisters), “Orlofsky” (Die Fledermaus), “Mère Marie” (Dialogues des Carmélites), “Dorothée” (Cendrillon), and “The Spirit” (Dido and Aeneas). Friend performed the role of "Cherubino" (Le Nozze di Figaro) in the La Musica Lirica Festival and at the Estates Theatre in Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Festival. She also performed in the 65th Annual Sewanee Summer Music Festival & Operafest in 2022. In addition to her stage credits, Caroline won 1st Prize of the 2024 American International Music Competition in Group I for Voice, as well as 2nd Prize for the 2023 ACPC Marcella Kochańska Sembrich Vocal Competition. Friend collaborated in masterclasses under Kirill Kuzman, Julius Drake, and Annemarie Kremer. She is also a Schola member at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Cleveland, Ohio, which exclusively sings Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony.