mezzo-soprano
KATHERINE LERNER LEE
About...
Based in New York City, Katherine has cultivated a full musical life of performance and teaching. In performance, she prizes deep musical thought and authenticity of expression, particularly enjoying close collaborations with fellow musicians and composers. As a teacher, Katherine passes on her attention to detail and reverence for vocal craft, helping to free up and celebrate the voices of students both young and mature. The 2024-2025 season includes Opera Essentia’s distilled productions of Handel’s Admeto and Radamisto, art song appearances with Cincinnati Song Initiative, Shandelee Music Festival and Concerts in the Village in Kinderhook, NY. She recently premiered and recorded Tim Mukherjee’s So Its Mein Herz, and performs twice with the 21st Century Consort in Washington DC, premiering chamber works by Scott Wheeler and Jon Deak.
Katherine holds a double Bachelors in Voice and French from Oberlin College and Conservatory, as well as a Masters in Music from Bard Conservatory. She currently serves on faculty at Concordia Conservatory and the University of Mount Saint Vincent and takes select private students based in NYC.
Art Song
An avid recitalist, Katherine has organized many concerts with dear friends and collaborators while in the Hudson Valley. Since May, she has been invited to present three recitals in Poughkeepsie, Pine Plains and Hudson. In May she gave her graduate recital at Bard Conservatory, wherein she performed Grieg’s only narrative song cycle Haugtussa, George Crumb’s seminal work Apparition and premiered Juliana Hall’s “Peace on Earth,” which was written for her. Other recent concerts include a program of Schumann’s Liederkreis, op. 39 and an afternoon of music exploring her Jewish heritage including music of Ravel, Lori Laitman and Lazar Weiner. In August of this year she will perform on a concert of English art song with Bard Music Festival and next calendar year will give recitals with pianists Cristina Altamura and Erika Switzer.
Previous operatic credits include Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Flora (The Turn of the Screw) and Clori in Cavalli's L'Egisto. Katherine was slated to perform La Princesse in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and as well as Holy St. Francis' Trainer in David T. Little's Vinkensport with the Music Academy of the West, though these performances were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Katherine was named the winner of the 2021-2022 Bard Concerto Competition. In 2019 she was awarded the Pi Kappa Lambda Prize for musicianship and the Faustina Hurlbutt Prize from Oberlin Conservatory and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Kappa, national honors societies for music and academics, respectively. She was also a 2019 winner of the Tri-State Opera Guild of Dayton competition.
When not performing, Katherine enjoys dog-watching, finding new favorite coffee shops and doing the NY Times crossword puzzle. She serves on voice faculty at Concordia Conservatory and the University of Mount Saint Vincent.