Shelby R. Tipling is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable, Philadephia-based performer, exploring a myriad of vocal and musical interests. Her specialties lie in collaboration in German Lieder and Bel Canto Opera. In addition to her work as a vocalist, Shelby is also a full-time piano technician, tuning and maintaining instruments with the same precision and care she brings to her musical artistry. She also continues to pursue her pedagogical passions alongside her performance and technical work.

Recent highlights include Nick Hersh’s arrangement of Hansel and Gretel in Peabody’s Outreach Opera with Annapolis Opera, hosting sonata seminars as the Musicologist in Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’s The Classical Style: an opera (of sorts), and her ongoing Baltimore Salon Series with restauranteur, Tony Forman.

Shelby was a staff soloist for the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, PA, and has frequently soloed at Doylestown Presbyterian—her favorite being Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. She has also performed with various ensembles in the Philadelphia area, including the Haverford-Bryn Mawr Chorale under the direction of Nate Zullinger, The Choristers, and Saint Clement’s Church with Peter Conte.

Her performance experience extends beyond the concert stage. Some of her favorite operatic roles include Meg March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and La Contessa di Almaviva in her international role debut in Lyric Opera Studio Weimar’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

(Shelby’s full performance history is available in her résumé linked below.)

Shelby holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She earned her undergraduate degrees from the University of Iowa in both Vocal Performance (BM) and German Studies with Honors (BA), where she became a published scholar in Iowa Research Online for her research, “The Use of ‘Wienerisch’ in Der Rosenkavalier: A Dialect Analysis.” She also studied and performed in Middlebury, VT’s esteemed Deutsch für Sänger Summer Program in 2018 and 2019.