A classical voice adjunct professor with a background in both heavy metal and opera music has been making her mark at LBCC after being hired last semester to teach applied student vocalists.
Second-semester adjunct professor Kellie Krueger has been at the school since August and has had a long and storied history with singing with roots in both opera and metal.
Krueger initially got her bachelor’s in voice from Western Colorado University, then got her master’s degree at Arizona State and began her doctorate there as well.
During her doctorate program, Krueger went to a summer abroad program in Germany and got the chance to sing in a professional role in the Middle Saxony Theater, an operatic group there.
“I didn’t know German, I knew how to pronounce it because we practice that in vocals but I didn’t know the language,” admitted Krueger. “I was a drunken, yodeling postwoman…she was funny but had a huge voice and I actually had to learn to yodel,” she added.
After the program however, Krueger said she became burnt out from school and the operatic program.
“I didn’t finish my doctorate, I needed a break after the first year. I moved out to L.A. in 2015 on my own. I had an intent of auditioning for the L.A. opera chorus or anything I could find.”
Krueger eventually started singing in smaller productions with small roles in a local opera company in the valley known as Valley Opera and Performing Arts and noted that the first “success” in terms of an operatic career here was when she received the understudy of the lead in an Italian-language variant of “Cinderella”
“At the final blocking rehearsal, the lead was sick so I had to get up and do the whole thing, it was terrifying…and hard.”
In terms of her rock music career, Krueger said that it came when she tried rekindling her lost love for opera and singing as a whole due to the burnout she faced after going through graduate school.
“I wanted to find the joy in music again, so I went and started singing karaoke at random bars. I would sing a lot of rock and metal covers, just for fun. Eventually, that turned into live jams in Hollywood, I went and sang some Black Sabbath songs and it just so happened I had a female backing band. After the performance, everyone kept asking about our ‘band’ and we were like ‘we’re not a band!’,” said Krueger.
This fact proved to be short-lived as the group eventually formed a cover band called “Iron Sabbatha” for a couple of months.
“I was with the band for like a few months, but I still sounded like an opera singer and they’d give me a hard time. I kept discovering how to sing rock and roll through live jams and eventually performed at a bowling alley in Hollywood, Lucky Strike, where many great singers performed.”
When the pandemic in 2020 eventually shut down live music, Krueger still tried practicing in rock music in backyard jams, while also rediscovering her love for opera, mixing the two genres, and learning how to balance both.
March 11, 2026 LBCC adjunct opera professor with a special interest in metal music Kellie Krueger poses holding up a rock on hand sign with her left hand and a graceful open hand with her right in a G building practice room on March 11, 2026 at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, Calif (Alexandra Rios)
Co-department head of music and professor of vocal studies Skye Angullo reminisced about when she hired Krueger before last semester.
“When I was hiring, she auditioned, it was fabulous! I was like oh my gosh, an amazing voice and beautiful personality, just so positive. We in the room thought she could really inspire students and she’s just great with people,” said Angullo
People at LBCC likely became most familiar with Krueger after her solo performance at last semester’s “Voices of Rock” rock music concert.
“We had been planning to do this rock and roll concert and I was like ‘Oh my gosh! I have Kellie! Kellie, would you sing?’” said Angullo.
During the concert, Krueger sang a solo with LBCC’s own rock band delivering a powerful performance of “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” by Concrete Blonde that went back to her metal roots.
Right now, Krueger has been on “crunch time” as she calls it with her students preparing for their chorale concert, “Carmina Burana” which will be showcased on May 31.
One of Krueger’s students, Haziel Martinez, who will be in the musical showcase, has noted how much he’s grown after practicing with Krueger this semester.
“I remember when I first started singing, I couldn’t really go anywhere where my voice type is supposed to, but I feel like after working with (Krueger) I am definitely more comfortable in the higher range,” Martinez said.
In her short time at LBCC so far, Krueger has enjoyed going into newer territory, noting that she’s never taught choral students before coming here.
LBCC adjunct opera professor with a special interest in metal music Kellie Krueger poses leaning on the piano, holding up a rock on hand sign with her left hand and holding an opera lesson book in her right hand, looking to the side in a G building practice room on March 11, 2026, at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, Calif (Alexandra Rios)
“It’s great teaching young adults, I’ve only ever really taught middle school age kids, so it’s great to connect with voices that can really show what they can do,” said Krueger.
To see Krueger’s students perform at the “Carmina Burana” chorale concert, tickets can be purchased here. Students with the current semester’s ASB sticker have free admission, free tickets are also given to the Performing Arts department’s season pass, as one of the final shows the pass is good for.
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