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ABOUT

Opera News calls her “a natural actress…[a] powerhouse mezzo with thrilling, laser-like focus” and “luminous tone.” Opera magazine praises her voice as “stunningly rich.”

Katharine Goeldner's unique gifts have taken her to stages throughout the world in an astonishing range of repertory.

 

Katharine's return to the Santa Fe Opera in their 2021 season, as Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin, was described in The New Mexican as “a bit of luxury casting.” That summer, she also presented Warning: Mezzo Ahead!, a series of two recitals with pianist Carol Anderson for the Santa Fe Wagner Society. In January 2022, she makes her Atlanta Opera debut in a new role –– Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance. She then debuts at Tulsa Opera as Herodias in Salome. In June, she will create the role of Iris in the world premiere of Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman’s Awakenings at Opera Theater of Saint Louis,  followed in October by a concert performance of the new opera Arkhipov by Peter Knell and Stephanie Fleischmann, with Katharine singing the role of Olga Arkhipova.

 

Katharine’s performances in 2019 and 2020 included her role debut as a “deliciously slippery,” “snake-like” Annina in Der Rosenkavalier at The Metropolitan Opera, directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; an exciting last-minute performance as the Marquise de Berkenfeld in Laurent Pelly’s production of La fille du Regiment, also at the Met, costarring Kathleen Turner, Pretty Yende, and Javier Camarena and conducted by Enrique Mazzola; a “powerful and velvety” Fricka in Die Walküre in Augsburg; Berio's Folk Songs with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg; Verdi’s Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony; and a "heady and dark" Brigitta (wanderersite.com) in Die tote Stadt in Toulouse and with RTÉ Dublin. Critics have described Katharine’s performances as Ma Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie’s The Grapes of Wrath as “consistently stunning” and “a perfect marriage of artist and role.” She created the roles of both Jackie Onassis in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK and Peggy Ophuls in Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown

Katharine’s impressive international career has taken her to the stages of Toulouse, Lyon, Seville, Bilbao, Tokyo, Hannover, Kassel, Monte Carlo, Montreal, Santa Fe, Arizona, Dallas, Paris’ Châtelet, the Salzburg Festival, and the Savonlinna Festival, spanning the mezzo repertoire from the Composer in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, one of her signature roles, to more recent portrayals of Amneris, Dalila, Herodias, and Brangäne. Her many roles at the Metropolitan Opera have included the Schoolboy in Lulu (the role of her company debut), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Ascanio in Benvenuto Cellini, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus and Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena opposite Anna Netrebko in the title role. She has starred as Carmen at Finland’s Savonlinna Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Dorset Festival (UK), Madison Opera, and New York City Opera.

Katharine’s vast concert repertoire includes Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and on tour at Lincoln Center;  a recording of Louis Spohr's Die letzten Dinge with Ivor Bolton and the Mozarteum Orchestra; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Symphony, under the direction of Georges Prêtre, and with Ivor Bolton and the Mozarteum Orchestra; Shostakovich's From Jewish Folk Poetry at Carnegie Hall; Salome in concert with Edo de Waart at

the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and with Andrew Litton and the Minnesota Orchestra; a DVD of K.A. Hartmann’s Erste Sinfonie with Lothar Zagrosek and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra; a recording of Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Timothy Hankewich and Orchestra Iowa; and multiple performances with RSO-Vienna, Berlin Symphony, Filarmonica Toscanini, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Prague Radio Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonie de Radio France, and the Basel Sinfonietta, with such distinguished conductors as Sir Charles Mackerras, Hans Graf, Dennis Russell Davies, Michael Schønwandt, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Marek Janowski, and Adam Fischer.

A specialist in classical art song, Katharine has presented recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Salzburg Mozart Festival, Vienna’s Festival Ravel, the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, for the Wagner Society of Santa Fe, Drake University, and her alma mater, the University of Iowa. As a member of the chamber trio The Prairie Song Project, she has commissioned two works for mezzo, flute and piano: Peter Ash’s Paradox and Rory Boyle’s A Handful of Leaves.

Born in Sigourney, Iowa, Katharine received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Iowa. She was extremely honored to be named an Alumni Fellow by the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2012. She also holds a Magister Diplom/Masters Degree with High Honors in Lieder and Oratorio from Salzburg’s Mozarteum University. Katharine believes strongly in the importance of supporting young singers and shares her passion for vocal education by maintaining a private studio and presenting master classes for such distinguished institutions as the University of Iowa, Abilene Christian University, The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, Florida International University, Drake University, the University of Northern Iowa, Florida International University, the AIMS institute in Graz, and the University of Miami Summer in Salzburg program.

Katharine lives in Salzburg, Austria with her husband, daughter, and two very loving Abyssinian cats.

Updated: January 2022

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Katharine Goeldner enthralled us with her expressive mezzo-soprano and her masterful interpretation of Brangäne.
With her performance this evening, the doors of all the great opera houses of the world should be open to her.
Der neue Merker, Harald Lacina

Repertoire Anchor

REPERTOIRE

OPERA

 

Adams

Marilyn Klinghoffer The Death of Klinghoffer

 

Berg

Geschwitz Lulu

The Schoolboy Lulu

 

Berlioz

Didon Les Troyens

Ascanio Benvenuto Cellini

Bizet

Carmen Carmen 

Britten

Hippolyta A Midsummer Night's Dream

Mrs.Grose The Turn of the Screw 

Debussy

Geneviève Pélleas et Mélisande

Donizetti   

Marquise of Berkenfield La fille du Regiment

Giovanna Seymour Anna Bolena

Maffio Orsini Lucrezia Borgia

Gilbert and Sullivan

Ruth The Pirates of Penzance

Pitti Sing The Mikado 

Gluck

Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice

Gordon, Ricky Ian

Ma Joad The Grapes of Wrath

Korngold, Erich

Brigitta Die tote Stadt

Little, David T. 

Jacqueline Onassis JFK 

Mascagni 

Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana 

Mozart  

Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro

Sesto La clemenza di Tito

Dorabella Cosi fan tutte

Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro 

Offenbach

Nicklausse Les contes d'Hoffmann

Perla, Jack

Peggy Ophuls Shalimar the Clown 

Poulenc

Mère Marie Dialogues des Carmélites

Puccini 

Suzuki Madama Butterly 

La Zia Principessa Suor Angelica 

Saints-Saëns

Dalila Samson et Dalila  

Smythe, Ethel

Thirza The Wreckers

Strauss, J. 

Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus 

  

Strauss, R.  

Annina Der Rosenkavalier

Herodias,Salome

Composer Ariadne auf Naxos

Octavian Der Rosenkavalier

Tchaikovsky

Madame Larina Eugene Onegin

Thomas 

Gertrude Hamlet 

Verdi 

Amneris Aida

Wagner

Fricka Das Rheingold 

Fricka Die Walküre  

Waltraute Götterdämmerung 

Brangäne Tristan und Isolde 

CONCERT

 

Bach
St. John Passion

St. Matthew Passion

B minor Mass

Weihnachtsoratorium
 

Beethoven

Ninth Symphony 

Berio

Folk Songs

Berlioz

Les nuits d'été

Roméo et Juliette

Bernstein

Songfest

Brahms

Alto Rhapsody

Liebesliederwalzer

Bruckner

Mass in F minor

Te Deum

Ninth Symphony 

Chausson

Poème de l'amour et de la mer 

Danielpour

Portraits 

Duruflé

Requiem 

Eisler 

Deutsche Sinfonie  

Furrer, Beat

Poemas

Die Blinden

Epilog

Händel 

The Messiah 

Hartmann, K.A.   

Erste Sinfonie, "Versuch eines Requiems"

Haydn, J.

Paukenmesse

Il ritorno di Tobia 

Mahler

Das Lied von der Erde

Symphony Nr. 3 

Symphony Nr. 8

Marx, J.  

Verklärtes Jahr 

Mendelssohn 

Elijah 

Die Erste Walpurgisnacht

Milhaud

Machines agricoles

Mozart

Concert Arias: 

Chi sá, chi sá, qual sia (KV 582) 
Al desio di chi t’adora (KV 577)
Ch’io mi scordi di te? (KV 505)
Vado, ma dove? (KV 583)

Coronation Mass

Requiem 

  

Ravel  

Shéhérazade 

Schoenberg

Pierrot lunaire

Schubert 

Mass in Ab Major 

Mass in Eb Major 

Schumann 

Das Paradies und die Peri 

Shostakovich 

Songs from Jewish Folk Poetry  

Spohr 

Die letzen Dinge 

Verdi 

Requiem  

Wagner

Wesendonck Lieder

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