Dr. Colleen Skull is a soprano, scholar, and educator currently serving as Associate Professor of Voice at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. A former member of the prestigious Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, she has sustained an active professional career in opera, orchestral, chamber, and recital repertoire, performing with the Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera Victoria, Manitoba Opera, Esprit Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Northern New York.
Equally fluent in soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoire, Dr. Skull has performed and covered more than thirty operatic roles. Performances of note include Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Elle (La Voix humaine), the title role in Jenufa, Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Dorabella and Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Agathe (Der Freischutz), Jocasta (Oedipus Rex), Marina (Boris Godunov), Mrs. Grosse in The Turn of the Screw, Zulma in L'Italiana in Algeri, Mere Marie de l'Incarnation in Dialogues des Carmelites, and Waltraute, Rossweisse, and Siegrune (Die Walkure). Her work has been praised for its vocal richness, dramatic clarity, and commanding stage presence. Radio and television appearances include performances on CBC Radio, CTV, Definitely Not the Opera with Sook-Yin Lee, Breakfast Television, TVO, and YTV.
An avid recitalist and collaborative artist, Dr. Skull curates programs that integrate works by living composers and composers from historically underrepresented communities. Her recital and chamber work emphasizes narrative, social context, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dr. Skull holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from the University of Toronto. Her research on sustaining elite performance excellence in opera earned the Graduate Award for Best Research Paper from the International Symposium on Performance Science, where she was also a keynote speaker. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Metropolitan Opera District Competition prize, a Chalmers Award from the Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts Professional Artist Grants. Recent support includes an Applied Lougheed Grant (2025) funding sabbatical research focused on cross-training in the voice studio, neurodiversity, acoustic vocal pedagogy, mindfulness, and applied voice science, including advanced training at Shenandoah University's Summer Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) program.
As an educator, Dr. Skull is deeply committed to inclusion and belonging. Her collaborative, student-centered teaching emphasizes the development of artistic agency across Western classical, music theatre, and contemporary commercial styles. She has been recognized with multiple SUNY Potsdam Emerging Leaders awards for teaching excellence and community building, as well as a President's Award for Excellence in Advising, and is consistently among the most requested voice professors in her department.
Dr. Skull actively serves as a mentor and advisor, preparing students for a wide range of professional pathways. Her students have been accepted into leading institutions including the Manhattan School of Music, McGill University, Indiana University, Penn State, and Texas Christian University, as well as prestigious summer and young artist programs such as the Brevard Music Center, the Chautauqua Institution, La Musica Lirica, Source Song Festival, and SongFest. Student achievements also include national competition awards, professional teaching appointments, and principal roles in operatic productions.