ABOUT
Opera News calls her “a natural actress…with thrilling, laser-like focus” and “luminous tone.” Opera magazine praises her “stunningly rich mezzo.” With a career that takes her throughout the U.S. and Europe, the “powerhouse” mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner is recognized as one of today’s great singers.
Recent performances include her Minnesota Orchestra debut as Herodias in Richard Strauss’ Salome; Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Orchestra Iowa; and Dalila in Samson et Dalila at Virginia Opera. She created the role of Jackie Onassis in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK, and starred at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Ma Joad in the premiere of the revised version of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's The Grapes of Wrath.
This season Katharine returns to her native Iowa, where she can be heard in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the University of Iowa Symphony. She performs the Verdi Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony, Fricka in Die Walküre in Augsburg, Germany, Brigitta in Die tote Stadt for her return to the Théatre du Capitôle, Toulouse, and Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin this fall at Michigan Opera Theatre, where she will return in the spring to reprise her triumphant Ma Joad.
She performed her signature role of The Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos in Oviedo, Madrid, Salzburg, Toulouse, Lyon and at Paris’ Châtelet. In addition, she has appeared with the opera companies of Toulouse, Seville, Bilbao, Monte Carlo, Santa Fe, Arizona, Dallas, and Antwerp.
Katharine’s concert performances include Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Royal Ballet at Lincoln Center and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Shostakovich's Songs from Jewish Folk Poetry with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall; K.A. Hartmann’s Erste Sinfonie with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Symphony, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Bruckner Orchestra. She has also performed in concert with the Mozarteum Orchestra, RSO-Vienna, Berlin Symphony, Filarmonica Toscanini, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Prague Radio Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonie de Radio France, and the Basel Sinfonietta, under the batons of such distinguished conductors as Georges Prêtre, Sir Charles Mackerras, Leon Botstein, Hans Graf, Dennis Russell Davies, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Schønwandt, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Adam Fischer, and Marek Janowski. Katharine has presented recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Salzburg Mozart Festival, Vienna’s Festival Ravel, the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, Drake University, and the University of Iowa.
Her 2017–2018 assignments included her role debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater in her home state of Iowa; a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago, as Mme. Larina in Eugene Onegin, a role which also took her back to Hawaii Opera Theater, and her debut with the Opéra de Montréal as Jackie Onassis in JFK.
Her recent role debuts include Peggy Ophuls in the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis world premiere of Shalimar the Clown, by Jack Perla and Rajiv Joseph; Amneris in Aida with Utah Opera; Fricka in Minnesota Opera's acclaimed production of Das Rheingold; Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Dutch National Opera; and Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Opéra National de Lyon. In the U.S. stage premiere of Dame Ethel Smythe’s 1906 The Wreckers at the 2015 Bard SummerScape Festival, she garnered universal praise in the demanding prima donna role of Thirza.
Her many roles at the Metropolitan Opera include 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 Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena. She has starred as Carmen at Finnland’s Savonlinna Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Dorset Festival (UK), Madison Opera, and New York City Opera.
As a member of the chamber trio The Prairie Song Project, she has commissioned two new works for mezzo, flute and piano: Peter Ash’s Paradox and Rory Boyle’s A Handful of Leaves.
Katharine received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Iowa. She was 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 with High Honors in Lieder and Oratorio from Salzburg’s Hochschule Mozarteum. Katharine 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.
Updated: September 2018
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
OPERA
Adams
Marilyn Klinghoffer The Death of Klinghoffer
Berg
Geschwitz Lulu
Berlioz
Didon Les Troyens
Bizet
Carmen Carmen
Britten
Hippolyta A Midsummer Night's Dream
Mrs.Grose The Turn of the Screw
Debussy
Geneviève Pélleas et Mélisande
Donizetti
Giovanna Seymour Anna Bolena
Maffio Orsini Lucrezia Borgia
Marquise of Berkenfield La fille du Regiment
Gilbert and Sullivan
PItti-Sing The Mikado
Gluck
Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice
Gordon, Ricky Ian
Ma Joad The Grapes of Wrath
Little, David T.
Jacqueline Onassis JFK
Mascagni
Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana
Massenet
Charlotte Werther
Mozart
Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro
Offenbach
Nicklausse/Giulietta 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
Composer Ariadne auf Naxos
Octavian Der Rosenkavalier
Herodias Salome
Tchaikovsky
Madame Larina Eugene Onegin
Thomas
Gertrude Hamlet
Verdi
Fenena Nabucco
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
Beethoven
Ninth Symphony
Berlioz
Les nuits d'été
Roméo et Juliette
Bernstein
Songfest
Brahms
Alto Rhapsody
Liebesliederwalzer
Bruckner
Mass in F
Eighth Symphony
Ninth Symphony
Chausson
Poème de l'amour et de la mer
Danielpour
Portraits
Duruflé
Requiem
Eisler
Deutsche Sinfonie
Händel
The Messiah
Hartmann, K.A.
Erste Sinfonie, "Versuch eines Requiems"
Haydn, J.
Paukenmesse
I ritorno di Tobia
Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde
Symphony Nr. 2
Symphony Nr. 3
Marx, J.
Verklärtes Jahr
Mendelssohn
Elijah
Die Erste Walpurgisnacht
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
C minor Mass
Requiem
Ravel
Shéhérazade
Shostakovich
Songs from Jewish Folk Poetry
Schubert
Mass in Ab Major
Mass in Eb Major
Schumann
Das Paradies und die Peri
Spohr
Die letzen Dinge
Verdi
Requiem
Wagner
Wesendonck Lieder