BIOGRAPHY
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 finest artists.
Katharine’s impressive international career has taken her to the stages of Toulouse, Lyon, Seville, Bilbao, Madrid, Oviedo, Tokyo, Monte Carlo, Montreal, Santa Fe, Amsterdam, Dallas, Paris’ Châtelet, the Salzburg 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, Fricka, Brangäne, Madam Larina, and Marcellina. 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. Her many roles at the Metropolitan Opera have included the Schoolboy in Lulu (the role of her company debut), Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro, Ascanio/Benvenuto Cellini, Nicklausse/Les contes d’Hoffmann, Prince Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, Giovanna Seymour/Anna Bolena, the Marquise de Berkenfeld/La fille du Regiment, and most recently a “deliciously slippery” (New York Classical Review) Annina in Der Rosenkavalier.
She has made a specialty of contemporary American opera, creating the roles of Iris Lev in Awakenings (Tobias Picker/Aryeh Lev Stollman), Peggy Ophuls in Shalimar the Clown (Jack Perla/Rajiv Joseph), Olga Arkhipova in Arkhipov (Peter Knell/Stephanie Fleischmann), Jacqueline Onassis in JFK (David T. Little/Royce Vavrek, and a critically-acclaimed portrayal of Ma Joad in the revised version of The Grapes of Wrath (Ricky Ian Gordon/Michael Korie).
Katharine’s vast concert repertoire includes Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde at Covent Garden; the Verdi Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony; Berios’ Folk Songs with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg; Shostakovich’s Songs from Jewish Folk Poetry with Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall; Salome in concert with Edo de Waart at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Georges Prêtre and the Vienna Symphony; 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, Ivor Bolton, Dennis Russell Davies, Michael Schønwandt, Juanjo Mena, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Marek Janowski, and Adam Fischer.
As Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath , Opera Theatre of St. Louis, with Tobias Greenhalgh
Photo: Ken Howard
As Annina in Der Rosenkavalier with Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs.
The Metropolitan Opera, Photo: Karen Almond
Katharine’s recordings include Annina in Der Rosenkavalier in the Met Opera’s Live in HD series; Louis Spohr’s Die letzten Dinge with Ivor Bolton and the Mozarteum Orchestra; Mozart’s concert aria KV 505 Ch’io mi scordi di te…Non temer, amato bene with Cyprien Katsaris and the Salzburger Kammerphilharnonie; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Georges Prêtre and the Vienna Symphony; Schumann’s Paradies und Peri with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra; K.A. Hartmann’s Erste Sinfonie with Lothar Zagrosek and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra; Les contes d’Hoffmann with the Opera de Bilbao; and Le nozze di Figaro with the Dutch National Opera.
Passionate about classical art song, Katharine has presented recitals at the Kennedy Center; the Salzburg Mozart Festival; Vienna’s Festival Ravel; the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse; Drake University; at her alma mater, the University of Iowa; and for the Wagner Society of Santa Fe. As a member of the chamber trio The Prairie Song Project, she has commissioned and recorded two works for mezzo, flute and piano: Peter Ash’s Paradox and Rory Boyle’s A Handful of Leaves.
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 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.
