Hailed by the Boston Globe as “balmy-voiced” and for her “uniformly excellent” performances, mezzo-soprano Katherine Beck joins Minnesota Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Odyssey Opera as Myrrhine in Lysistrata in the 2024-25 season. She also returns to the Nashville Symphony for a reprisal of Handel’s Messiah. Last season, she returned to Arizona Opera to create the role of Elizabeth Lavenza in the world premiere of Kallor’s Frankenstein. She also joined the Saint Louis Symphony as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana with James Gaffigan conducting and the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of La Cenerentola. With both the Nashville Symphony and Florida Orchestra, she sang Handel’s Messiah.
In recent seasons, she made her first return to Arizona Opera for Dorabella in Così fan tutte and joined Dallas Opera for its production of the same title. She sang Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Florentine Opera, joined the Opera Festival of Chicago as Isabella in Rossini’s rarely-performed L’inganno felice, and returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Le comte Ory. She also joined the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Akhnaten.
She made her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago whilst a member of the Ryan Opera Center as Wellgunde in Twilight: Gods, a reimagining of the final chapter of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. She also joined Music Director Enrique Mazzola for songs of Donizetti and Verdi on the “Sole e Amore” digital recital program, sang excerpts of Marquise Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims on the Rising Stars Concert and of the title role of Carmen at “Sunday in the Park” at Millennium Park.
She is also an alumna of the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio and has previously sung Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Mary Johnson in Spears’ Fellow Travelers, Flora in La traviata, Madeleine Audebert in Puts’ Silent Night, and Catherine Wright in Hagen’s Shining Brow with the company. Ms. Beck made her Santa Fe Opera debut as Karolka in Jenufa while an Apprentice Artist and sang her first performances of Sesto in Giulio Cesare with Pittsburgh Festival Opera. She recently joined Opera Buffs in Los Angeles as Angelina in La cenerentola following earlier performances of Mercedes in Carmen. With Opera Colorado, she created the role of Lisette in Cohen’s Steal a Pencil for Me and sang previous performances of La cenerentola in student performances.
She is a two-time Vocal Arts Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, at which she was able to indulge her love for art song and chamber music. In the summer of 2018 there, she premiered Gandolfi’s In America, composed in commemoration of Bernstein’s Songfest, with orchestra. Ms. Beck is a winner of the prestigious George London Foundation Award and the LuminArts Vocal Fellowship in Chicago. She earned her Master of Music degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of California and her Bachelor of Music degree from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam.
