Kathleen’s recital career includes appearances at Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Mahlersaal of the Vienna State Opera, the Neue Galerie, the Schwabacher Series in San Francisco, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival. Her recent collaboration with Jamie Barton has won wide acclaim, and her partners have included Elena Villalon, Michael Kelly, Karen Slack, Ryan McKinny, Christine Goerke, Troy Cook, Emily Albrink Katz, Laura Levoir, Amber Wagner, Sorin Coliban, Ariana Strahl, Martha Guth, and Jennifer Holloway. She has curated art song series for the Houston Grand Opera and the Vienna State Opera.

In demand as a mentor of rising artists, Kathleen has given masterclasses and workshops internationally. She was a recent guest teacher the Opera Studio at the New National Theater in Tokyo, and I will return in summer 2024 to coach and conduct their scenes program. She has also given masterclasses and workshops in North America, among others at the University of Toronto, the Schulich School at McGill University, University of Cincinnati, Baylor University, Vanderbilt University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, the Peabody Conservatory, University of Washington, Westminster Choir College, and Interlochen. She has served on the juries of the Wirth Prize at McGill University, the Dallas Opera Guild competition, the Kristin Lewis Foundation Scholarship auditions, the Cooper-Bing competition, the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Kathleen’s commitment to new music, particularly American music, is a major part of her musical life. She is active as an emcee for Sparks and Wiry Cries’ songSLAM events, which supports new work. In 2022, she performed or conducted world premieres by Matt Boehler, Reinaldo Moya, Jake Heggie, Naila Nombeko, Rene Orth, and Steven Rouse.

A published poet and essayist, Kathleen has created several new opera translations and libretti. Her poem You was chosen as one of five poems for Jake Heggie’s new cycle What I Miss, composed for Jamie Barton. Her poems have also been set by composers David Hanlon, Jamie Leidwinger, and Juliana Hall. Her English adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, commissioned by Tri-Cities Opera, is now in use alongside her chamber orchestra arrangement of the work. For Arizona Opera, she created a multilingual version of Emmerich Kalman’s Arizona Lady, and she wrote the libretto for David Hanlon’s Wolf Trap premiere Listen, Wilhelmina! Her English adaptation of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride premiered in 2019, and her English adaptation of La bohème commissioned by Opera Columbus premiered in 2021.

Current as of July 30, 2023