Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain maintains an active performance calendar in opera, chamber music, and oratorio throughout Europe and North America. 2018 saw her role debut as Konstanze in a production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (performed in Rouen-Normandie, Avignon, Clermont-Ferrand, Reims, and Massy) to great acclaim: “coloratura of ideal precision and phrasing like a dream, in an unending crescendo of inspiration … her tragic arias were the highlight of the evening” (Opera Online). In 2019 she will sing Mozart’s Donna Anna with the Armel Opera Festival (in Ecuador and Budapest) as well as with the Orchestra of the 18th Century under Kenneth Montgomery. A fierce advocate of the contemporary repertoire, her debut with the Dutch National Opera was in Claude Vivier Kopernikus (Coloratura Soprano), a production of its Talent Development Programme.
Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain maintains an active performance calendar in opera, chamber music, and oratorio throughout Europe and North America. 2018 saw her role debut as Konstanze in a production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (performed in Rouen-Normandie, Avignon, Clermont-Ferrand, Reims, and Massy) to great acclaim: “coloratura of ideal precision and phrasing like a dream, in an unending crescendo of inspiration … her tragic arias were the highlight of the evening” (Opera Online). In 2019 she will sing Mozart’s Donna Anna with the Armel Opera Festival (in Ecuador and Budapest) as well as with the Orchestra of the 18th Century under Kenneth Montgomery. A fierce advocate of the contemporary repertoire, her debut with the Dutch National Opera was in Claude Vivier Kopernikus (Coloratura Soprano), a production of its Talent Development Programme.
Katharine Dain is the revelation of the evening. Her ample and silky voice, supple phrasing and warm timbre are apparent from her first aria. The young soprano marries dramatic power and enormous vocal agility without ever stepping outside of Mozart’s style.
ÔLYRIX
Mozart has unquestionably found in the beautiful American soprano Katharine Dain an ideal Konstanze. Fluent high range, expressive middle, virtuosity without excess, dramatic intelligence: her “Martern aller Arten” promises us a splendid heroine.
FORUM OPERA
Katharine is becoming known for unusual musical imagination, intelligence, and fearlessness. She is frequently asked to jump in for high-profile performances of obscure repertoire, including Luigi Nono’s Il Canto Sospeso at the Holland Festival under Ingo Metzmacher, performances of Tavener, Gubaidulina, and Ravel at Ireland’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival (“singing as though the music had been written just for her,” said the Irish Times), a solo recital of Strauss, Marx, and Korngold lieder in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal (called “a miracle” by Place de l’Opera), Carmina Burana at the Concertgebouw’s Robeco Summer Nights series, and for the world premiere of Dutch composer Jan van de Putte’s Insonia with Asko|Schönberg and Cappella Amsterdam under Reinbert de Leeuw–a performance that was broadcast live on Dutch Radio 4 from the Concertgebouw’s Zaterdagmatinee series and later released commercially on Etcetera Records.
A passionate promoter of chamber music and recital repertoire, she has co-founded several chamber groups including, most recently, Damask Vocal Quartet, which released its first album of quartets by Brahms and contemporaries, titled O schöne Nacht, in 2018 to enthusiastic reviews.
Katharine is becoming known for unusual musical imagination, intelligence, and fearlessness. She is frequently asked to jump in for high-profile performances of obscure repertoire, including Luigi Nono’s Il Canto Sospeso at the Holland Festival under Ingo Metzmacher, performances of Tavener, Gubaidulina, and Ravel at Ireland’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival (“singing as though the music had been written just for her,” said the Irish Times), a solo recital of Strauss, Marx, and Korngold lieder in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal (called “a miracle” by Place de l’Opera), Carmina Burana at the Concertgebouw’s Robeco Summer Nights series, and for the world premiere of Dutch composer Jan van de Putte’s Insonia with Asko|Schönberg and Cappella Amsterdam under Reinbert de Leeuw–a performance that was broadcast live on Dutch Radio 4 from the Concertgebouw’s Zaterdagmatinee series and later released commercially on Etcetera Records.
A passionate promoter of chamber music and recital repertoire, she has co-founded several chamber groups including, most recently, Damask Vocal Quartet, which released its first album of quartets by Brahms and contemporaries, titled O schöne Nacht, in 2018 to enthusiastic reviews.
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January 23, 2019My year of Konstanze has ended. I'm sure I'll revisit the role, but saying goodbye to her now, and to this unforgettable team and production, was so hard. I have spilled so much (virtual) ink here talking about the process, so I won't do that any more; I'll just leave some images here of one of the most absorbing, beautiful, challenging projects I've ever done, with thanks and kisses to everyone involved (including many... -
December 31, 2018Happy end of 2018, friends. It’s been a hard one for many of us. For me and my work, there have been moments of almost unbearable intensity, both good and bad, and stretches that were entirely business-as-usual. Typically, the latter periods bring stability and groundedness, but sometimes this year they did the opposite, which was to wind me up so much with feelings of banality and wheel-spinning that I occasionally wanted to quit everything and... -
December 6, 2018While lying in a hot bath one chilly November morning in Seattle, trying to soothe my jet-lagged body before a concert and catching up on back issues of the New Yorker, I read the following: “What are you doing? I don’t mean what are you doing with your life, or in general, but what are you doing right now? The answer, in one respect, is simple enough: you’re reading this magazine. Obviously. From a certain...
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