Kerem Kurk has been singing professionally since his days at the Manhattan School of Music in the studio of Patricia Misslin. In his final semester in 2002, he sang the title role in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito under the baton of Julius Rudel in the Cathedral St. John the Divine in New York City.
Upon graduation, Kerem joined the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera, where he sang in various productions with renowned conductors Christoph von Dohnanyi and Marcello Viotti. While in Switzerland, he studied privately with Nicolai Gedda.
His performance of Belmonte in the Entführung aus dem Serail at the Bad Hersfeld Festival in Germany was praised in the November 2003 issue of Opernwelt magazine as a “first-rate Mozart tenor with a highly-cultivated legato.”
Following a workshop in Zurich with director Peter Konwitschny of his now-famous production of Don Giovanni as Don Ottavio, Kerem was invited to the Komische Oper Berlin to sing Oronte in their production of Alcina directed by David Alden and conducted by Paul McCreesh. He returned to Berlin for the following season’s revival, and created the tenor role in the world-premiere staging of the recently discovered Telemann opera Pastorelle.
He appeared regularly as a soloist with the Boston Baroque: for the Messiah in 2008 with the group the Boston Globe noted his “sweet voiced, clarion tenor.” In 2009, he traveled with the ensemble to the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico for the Bach Magnificat, and later sang with them in Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor. In December 2009 he made his Belgian debut in Bach's Mass in B minor with the Charlemagne Orchestra and the Brussels Choral Society in 2009 at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.
The following spring 2010 he returned to Belgium to sing Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Alden Biesen Castle Festival. For 2010-2012 he was engaged as the principal tenor at the Theater Vorpommern in Germany to sing Eisenstein, Alfredo and an Italian Opera Gala at which he sang arias and ensembles as Don Ottavio, Rodolfo, Edgardo among others.
This gala was reviewed by the Viennese magazine Der Neue Merker: “And still another singer, when listening to, one can only recommend (even gentlemen of the order of magnitude such as Meyer in Vienna, would lick their fingers if they had such a tenor in their house:.. Kerem Kurk, offers strength, timbre, vocal technique, magnificent high notes, a full personality, and was easily the star of the evening - as Ottavio, Edgardo, Rodolfo, and Alfredo: Whenever he was on stage, operatic bliss ensued. If he is always is in such form, he shall soon take bigger stages by storm.”
In 2011-2012 in Germany, he added the roles of Tom Rakewell, Lenski and Idomeneo to his repertoire with numerous performances for each of them to great acclaim.
In 2012-13 he switched to the Staatstheater Schwerin where he opened the season with his first Pinkerton and Edwin (Csardasfurstin); the tenor leads in two German romantic one-act operas: Die Opernprobe and Der Musikfeind; and finished the season with Alfred in Fledermaus, while performing Lenski in a new production.
His solo concert appearances last season included the Mozart Requiem and the Beethoven 9th- the latter marking Kerem’s debut at the Philharmonie in Cologne.
In 2013-14 in Schwerin he resumed the roles of Edwin, Lenski and the above-mentioned one-acts, as the soloist in Beethoven 9th, Handel’s Messiah and added the roles of Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking and Ismaele in Nabucco for the Schwerin Festival.
In the 2014-15 season Kerem returned to the Philharmonie in Cologne for Beethoven 9th, took part in various Opera and Operetta Gala Evenings at the Schwerin State Theater and sang Lenski, Camille in The Merry Widow. He also added the role of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana in a concert performance in Potsdam.
In the summer 2015 Kerem sang Alfredo in the Schwerin Summer Festival’s La Traviata and in 2016 he returned to Germany to Stadttheater Giessen to add the role of Yilmaz in the contemporary opera Gegen die Wand, based on the award-winning film with the same title.
Later in 2016 he participated in the Metropolitan Opera Lecture series in New York City where he presented selections from Mozart's Idomeneo. In 2017 he sang the tenor solos in the Yunus Emre Oratorio of A. Saygun and Beethoven's Ninth with the Winifridia Fulda Chor in Fulda Germany. This concert was recorded and broadcast by the German radio station Hessische Rundfunk. Later in the spring in 2017 he reprised the tenor solos in the Yunus Emre Oratorio, this time around at the Konzerthaus Berlin with Berliner Cappella to great acclaim. On November 17th 2018 Kerem was the soloist for Walther Braunfels' Te Deum as part of the Armistice Centennary celebrations in Berlin.
In 2023 Kerem sang the world-premiere of the Opera Don Buonaparte by Alberto Franchetti (a Puccini contemporary and friend) in Annaberg -Buchholz in Germany. For his portrayal of the Caporale he received great reviews including the following in Opernfreund in October 2023: "Kurk..a flawlessly gleaming Tenor"...