Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle

Soprano

 Soprano Kathleen Battle’s luminous voice has been called “…without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world” (The Washington Post). Yet beyond the glory of her singing, in a career filled with countless accolades, honors and major milestones, what has perhaps distinguished her most is her almost magical ability to create an unwavering emotional bond between herself, her music and her audience. 

In her youth, this native of Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children, sang in church and school, and envisioned a future as a music teacher. Fortunately for audiences around the world, she found other ways to share her love of music—and through her natural gifts, innate intelligence, and hard work, her soaring voice has carried her to the heights of the classical music world. Indeed, throughout a remarkable career that has brought her to the stages of the world’s leading opera houses and major concert halls, critics have never tired of rhapsodizing over her limpid, unmistakable sound. In quite poetic terms, they have compared it to “the ethereal beauty of winter moonlight” (The Washington Post), “a paradoxical meeting of earth and sky” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “cream from a miraculous, bottomless pitcher” (The New York Times). 

The range of Ms. Battle’s repertoire spans three centuries from the Baroque era to contemporary works. She has enjoyed some of her greatest successes in the opera house in repertoire ranging from Handel (Cleopatra in the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere staging of Giulio Cesare) to Richard Strauss (Sophie, Zdenka, Zerbinetta). For her Covent Garden debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Ms. Battle became the first American to be honored with a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a New Opera Production. She has similarly distinguished herself as one of our generation’s finest interpreters of Mozart (Susanna, Despina, Pamina, and Zerlina), as well as the bel canto operas of Rossini (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Donizetti (L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Pasquale, La Fille du Regiment). In the words of critic Tim Page, “Miss Battle’s natural territory is music of sweetness, serenity, and girlish ecstasy. Within this repertoire she is all but unequaled.” 

In recital, Kathleen Battle, the winner of five Grammy awards, has mesmerized audiences around the globe with her unique artistry and vocal beauty. Of her Carnegie Hall recital debut, New York Newsday declared, “In an age when the vocal recital has practically gone the way of the dinosaur, this was a thrilling case for its return.” For the CD of this recital, released on DG, Ms. Battle received one of three Grammy Awards for Best Classical Vocal Soloist; Ms. Battle has won a total of five Grammy Awards. The Australian echoed the sentiment of critics around the world, saying, “The Sydney Opera House has played host to any number of great singers…but it’s unlikely there has ever been (or perhaps ever will be) a performance to match the recital American soprano Kathleen Battle gave.” 

Kathleen Battle’s gifts as a singer extend beyond the realm of classical music. Her work as a great interpreter of spirituals is documented on a joint recital with Jessye Norman, Spirituals in Concert (DG). Her pure emotional power in this music of joy and sorrow cuts through all cultural boundaries. As the Vienna Kurier put it, “Kathleen Battle sang so beautifully in the spiritual ‘Heaven is one beautiful place,’ she came pretty close to heaven.” 

Ms. Battle drew considerable attention with the world premiere of Honey and Rue, a song cycle with music by Oscar and Grammy-winner composer André Previn and lyrics by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, commissioned for Ms. Battle by Carnegie Hall on the event of their 100th anniversary. Since then, she has performed the work with leading orchestras and in recital throughout the world. The Los Angeles Times called her performance of this work “spellbinding,” while the Cincinnati Herald remarked, “her voice was like the ebb and flow of the seas as an almost sacred silence enclosed the auditorium.” The recording of this cycle was released by DG, on a disc which also includes Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and arias from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. 

Always seeking to expand her artistic horizons, Ms. Battle was joined by leading jazz musicians for her first crossover album, So Many Stars (Sony Classical), a collection of lullabies, spirituals, and folksongs. Commenting on her extraordinary gifts as a jazz artist, The Detroit News noted, “When Battle and her core jazz trio held the stage, the musical splendor was almost more than the ear could take in.” 

Since her student years, Kathleen Battle has collaborated with colleagues who rank among the world’s most talented musicians. She has been a favorite soloist with the world’s leading orchestras and esteemed conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Mazell, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, and Sir Neville Marriner. Her partnerships with soprano Jessye Norman, tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, violinist Itzhak Perlman, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Christopher Parkening, flautists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Hubert Laws, and the late saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., to name but a few, are documented on numerous recordings and video discs. 

Kathleen Battle has established herself as a distinguished recording artist through a wide range of releases encompassing complete opera, concert, choral and solo albums on all major labels. Memorable concerts recorded live and now available on CD and home video include Mozart’s Coronation Mass from the Vatican and the 1987 New Year’s Concert, both with Herbert von Karajan conducting; the CDs are on the DG label with the video versions on Sony. Her performance of the title role in the DG recording of Handel’s Semele, with Marilyn Horne, Samuel Ramey, and John Nelson conducting, earned Ms. Battle a fifth Grammy Award. This recording commemorates a now legendary concert performance of Handel’s masterpiece, starring Ms. Battle and virtually the same cast as the recording, which created such a sensation that Carnegie Hall recognized it as one of its one hundred milestones during its centennial year. 

Kathleen Battle has made immeasurable contributions as an ambassador for classical music, performing for Presidents and dignitaries, and attracting diverse new audiences through television broadcasts of her operas and concerts, as well as through appearances on popular network talk shows. Her performance on the PBS broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s 1991 season opening gala won her an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Classical Program on Television. A documentary film on the recording of Sony’s Baroque Duet album with Wynton Marsalis and John Nelson conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s was nominated for an Emmy. Ms. Battle’s critically acclaimed “Metropolitan Opera Presents” performances of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia are available on DG VHS and DVD, while Sony has captured her Zerlina in Karajan’s production of Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival as well. 

Praised for the keen intelligence, which informs her musical sensitivity, Kathleen Battle earned both her Bachelor and Master degrees from the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. She has been awarded eleven honorary doctoral degrees—from her Alma Mater, the University of Cincinnati; Ohio University; Xavier University in Cincinnati; Amherst College; Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; Seton Hall University; Wilberforce University, Ohio; Manhattanville College; Shawnee State University; City College of New York; and the University of Connecticut. In honor of her outstanding artistic achievements, Ms. Battle was inducted into the “NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame”, and in 2002 into the “Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame”. She is the first recipient of the “Ray Charles Award” bestowed upon her by Wilberforce University. Heady accomplishments indeed for an artist whose earliest connection to music was simply feeling “blessed to have a voice that somebody else wanted to hear.” 

— Alex Wang 

Chico Pinheiro

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, and currently based in New York City, Grammy-nominated guitarist Chico Pinheiro is today one of the major creative forces in contemporary Brazilian Music and Jazz, both as instrumentalist and composer. He started playing the guitar at age six and began to work as a studio guitarist when he was 13. With highly acclaimed albums as a leader, including two Grammy-nominated albums, as well as many awards earned as instrumentalist and composer, he has been listed in Downbeat Magazine’s Annual Critic’s Poll as a Rising Star in the Guitar category multiple times; Chico is a constant and celebrated presence on all of the major Jazz Festivals around the Globe.

In addition to his solo work, Chico has collaborated with a diverse array of artists such as Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Dave Grusin, Kenny Werner, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Danilo Pérez, Nnenna Freelon, Bob Mintzer, Brian Blade (IJD), Ron Carter, Chris Potter, John Patitucci, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Placido Domingo, The Israeli Chamber Orchestra, The Bob Mintzer Big Band, The Paris Jazz Big Band, The Swiss Jazz Orchestra, The Danish Radio Big Band, The Seasons Guitar Quartet with Anthony Wilson, Julian Lage & Steve Cardenas, Esperanza Spalding, Joyce, Ivan Lins, Rosa Passos, Dori Caymmi, Danilo Caymmi, João Donato, Johnny Alf, Chico César, Ed Motta, César Camargo Mariano, Elza Soares, Luciana Souza, Monarco, Mark Turner, Tom Scott, Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington, Eddie Gomez, Gary Novak, Lee Ritenour, Abraham Laboriel, Paulinho da Costa, Sammy Figueroa, Cachaíto Lopez (Buena Vista Social Club), Roberto Fonseca, Ari Hoenig, Claudio Roditi, Duduka da Fonseca, Peter Erskine, Giovani Hidalgo, just to name a few.

Bridget Kibbey

Extraordinary harpist Bridget Kibbey, called “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp (by Vogue),” is in demand for her virtuosic and soulful performances that transcend her instrument. At ease crossing classical, global, and jazz genres, Kibbey dives deep into historic narratives —from the Baroque, to the French Belle Époque to Persian modes, to nuevo Latino traditions and beyond – while resonating within the vanguard of the new. Through it all, Kibbey is illuminating the powerful expressive range of the concert harp to new audiences worldwide! Her chameleon tendencies at the harp and curatorial strengths find her performing with a growing rolodex of curation-meets-performance appearances. According to The New York Times,“…she made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the energetic figures and colors she was getting from it.”

Kibbey, who recently made her solo NPR Tiny Desk debut, is a winner of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Salon de Virtuosi SONY Recording Grant, the only harpist to win a place in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program, an the Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition in Arles, France, among others. She has toured and recorded with luminaries Placido Domingo, Dawn Upshaw, and Gustavo Santaollala for SONY Records and Deutsche Grammaphon; and, her own solo debut album, Love is Come Again, was named one of the Top Ten Releases by Time Out New York.

She appears frequently as soloist and chamber musician at festivals and series across the globe, including Schloss Elmau, Pelotas Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart, La Jolla Music Society, International Festival d’Avesnois, Aspen, Bravo!Vail, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Big Ears Knoxville, Chamber Music Northwest, Bridgehampton, Savannah Music Festival, The Phillips Collection, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, The Cliburn, Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Columbus, Calgary Pro Musicis, and Chattanooga’s String Theory, among others. Kibbey has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, South America, and Middle East.

This season’s highlights include debuts as soloist at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Dumbarton Oaks, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Festival Napa Valley, the VIVO Festival. She appears at Saratoga PAC and Alice Tully Hall with Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as well as appearances as concerto soloist for 40,000 attendees at “Madison’s Concerts at the Capitol” premiering her own transcription of Rodrigo’s Concierto Aranjuez with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She presents a newly-commissioned concerto by Brazilian composer João Luiz Rezende, exploring the sounds of carnaval, and tours projects of her own creation, merging her own solo transcriptions alongside powerful collaborations: The Sacred in the Profane, exploring French Masterworks of the Belle Époque alongside the famed Calidore String Quartet; and headlines at the Savannah Music Festival and Carnegie Citywide, presenting her own Bach to Brazil, celebrating nuevo Latino voices alongside Latin Grammy Award-winning percussionist/composer Samuel Torres and acclaimed clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski. Kibbey most recently released her newest solo record, Crossing the Ocean, a virtuosic set of newly-commissioned works by an international set of composers, synthesizing their native folk music with the contemporary, for Pentatone Records.