Kathleen Kim | soprano
Opera News calls her "spectacular," the Chicago Sun-Times
"a revelation" and "tiny dynamo," and the Chicago
Tribune's John von Rhein adds that Kathleen Kim "nailed her stratospheric
coloratura aria with a precise, penetrating soprano." Such are
the accolades bestowed on this young Korean American coloratura soprano
that important opera houses are taking notice. Ever since her acclaimed
2007 debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro,
followed by Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Marie (cover) in La Fille
du Régiment, Kathleen Kim has forged a close artistic collaboration
with that house resulting in re-engagements for the next several seasons.
2009/10 offers her biggest roles yet at the Met with Zerbinetta in Ariadne
auf Naxos, Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffman, and a return as Papagena
in Die Zauberflöte. She will also make her debut at Atlanta Opera
as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. Other engagements include
Armida in Rinaldo at Central City Opera and her first Carmina Burana
with the Springfield Symphony.
Future seasons starting with 2010/11 include appearances at the Bayerische
Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric
Opera, Opera de Lille and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, among others.
During the 2008-2009 season, Kim made her debut with Minnesota Opera
as Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio, and overseas, her European
debut at Bilbao Opera as Marie in La Fille du Régiment. At the
Met, she returned as Papagena in The Magic Flute and as 1st Wood sprite
in Rusalka.
Kathleen Kim made her Mexico debut as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra during Carlos Miguel Prieto's final performance as music director with that orchestra in the summer of 2007.
A recent graduate of the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Kim appeared during her apprenticeship with Lyric as Adele in Die Fledermaus, 1st Priestess in Iphigénie en Tauride, Page in Rigoletto, Milliner in Der Rosenkavalier and Frasquita in Carmen for student matinees.
In 2006, Kim made her debut with the Chicago Opera Theatre as Madame Mao Tse-tung in Nixon in China for which she garnered rave reviews. Her other operatic roles include Queen of the Night and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Dew Fairy and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and Susanna and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro for such houses as Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Sarasota Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Ridgefield Opera in Connecticut, and Opera Eurydice in New York.
In the summer of 2004, Kim attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara under the direction of Marilyn Horne, where she received the Encouragement Award at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. A year earlier, she was a soprano soloist for the National Chorale's Annual Sing-In concert at New York's Avery Fisher Hall.
Kathleen Kim has won numerous prizes and awards, including the 2006 Sullivan Foundation Awards, Sarasota Opera Guild's Leo Rogers Scholarship, and the Rose Ann Grundman Scholarship of the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation voice competition in Chicago. She was also the third-prize winner of the Mario Lanza Competition, a National Finalist of the MacAllister Awards, and a prize winner of the Liederkranz Competition.
Ms. Kim received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music.
