Katherine Whyte, Soprano

Biography

Soprano Katherine Whyte has performed on opera and concert stages across her native Canada, the United States, and Europe. In the current season, Ms. Whyte makes her debut with the Canadian Opera Company in the title role of Iphigenie en Tauride and returns to the company as Isis in Semele. She began the 2010–2011 season as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for her debut with Opera Hamilton. She returned to the Houston Symphony for performances of Handel’s Messiah, joined John Nelson for Brahms’ Requiem at Wheaton College and made her Avery Fisher Hall debut in performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the National Chorale. She sang her first performances of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Michigan Opera Theatre and was heard with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in performances of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Katherine Whyte made three impressive debuts in the 2009–2010 season. She began the season as Gilda in Rigoletto with English National Opera. She then made her debut with Atlanta Opera as Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice alongside David Daniels and sings Iphis in Handel’s Jephtha with l’Opéra National de Bordeaux. On the concert stage, Ms. Whyte made her debut with the Houston Symphony in performances of Mozart’s Requiem with Hans Graf and sang Orff’s Carmina Burana with the South Dakota Symphony. Ms. Whyte was also heard in Handel’s Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir of Kitchener, Ontario and with the Bach-Elgar Choir of Hamilton, Ontario.

Ms. Whyte began the 2008–2009 season as a soloist in Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 with the San Francisco Symphony. Her season continued with a concert performance in Toronto with the Aldeburgh Connection and as a soprano soloist in Berg’s Seven Early Songs with Ensemble ACJW at Zankel Hall. In the 2007–2008 season, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the Garish Lady in The Gambler by Sergei Prokofiev, with Valery Gergiev conducting, and in productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Peter Grimes, Manon Lescaut and War and Peace. The winner of the 2007 Alice Tully Recital Competition, Ms. Whyte made her Carnegie Hall debut in solo recital at Weill Hall in January 2008. She returned to Carnegie Hall to sing with the Academy Program of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard and the Weill Music Institute in April under James Conlon.

Ms. Whyte was a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center in 2006 and returned in the summer of 2007, where she appeared as soprano soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Group in performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in Seiji Ozawa Hall. She also performed Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer in a chamber music recital and took part in master classes with James Levine at Tanglewood. Ms. Whyte returned to the Berkshires in August, when she performed the Liebeslieder Walzer with the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

Recent performances for Katherine Whyte have included Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Banff Centre, Mozart’s Requiem with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, Bach’s Cantata No. 105 with the Toronto Bach Festival and Messiah with Earl Haig Orchestra. She has performed with the Aldeburgh Connection, the Toronto Sinfonietta and was presented in recital by Regina Resnik Presents. Ms. Whyte is a recent graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, where she performed the role of Betty in the world premiere performance of Lowell Liebermann’s Miss Lonelyhearts. Additional roles while a member of the Juilliard Opera Center include Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Esmerelda in The Bartered Bride and Princesse in L’enfant et les sortilèges. She was a finalist in the 2008 Competizione dell’Opera at Dresden’s Semperoper and took fourth place at the final concert. As a finalist, she performed concerts in Bremen and Dippoldiswalde. Katherine Whyte holds both the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Toronto. She completed additional studies at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies and The Stean’s Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival.

(from cami.com)