Kitty Whately

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Kitty Whately trained at Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School.  She won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 59^th Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, and was part of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy where she appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.  Kitty was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013-15, during which time she recorded her debut solo album This Other Eden, made recordings with the BBC orchestras, commissioned a new song cycle and made several appearances at the Proms.

Opera highlights include Mother/Other Mother in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s latest opera Coraline at the Barbican, produced by the Royal Opera House, Dorabella Così fan tutte for Opera Holland Park, Nancy Albert Herring for The Grange Festival in the festival’s debut season, as Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and in Beijing; the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s The House Taken Over directed by Katie Mitchell, with performances in Antwerp, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Bruges and Lisbon; Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Opera Holland Park); Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bergen National Opera); Kate Owen Wingrave (Opéra National de Lorraine); Dorabella Cosi fan tutte (English Touring Opera) and Ippolita / Pallade in Cavalli’s Elena in Montpellier and Versailles for the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Kitty is in high demand as a recitalist and concert artist. In her 2017-18 season she sang Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a recital alongside Malcolm Martineau at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Further concert performances include the premiere of a new work by Sally Beamish at the Three Choirs Festival; a recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival, and stepping in at the last minute to give an acclaimed recital at Wigmore Hall. She has given performances with most of the UK’s major orchestras, including Duruflé’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem (in Oslo with the Dunedin Consort and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Bach’s B Minor Mass (Royal Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Beethoven’s Mass in C Major (Philharmonia Orchestra), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Britten Sinfonia on tour in Spain and the Netherlands), Bach’s Magnificat (Britten Sinfonia and Choir of King’s College Cambridge), Elgar Dream of Gerontius at St John’s Smith Square and Handel Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. Kitty has given recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival, Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder and Buxton festivals, working regularly with renowned accompanists Simon lepper, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau, Gary Matthewman, James Baillieu and Joseph Middleton.

Kitty made her BBC Proms debut in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Suite from Act II of Caroline Mathilde, and also appeared in a Chamber Music Prom singing the music of Stephen Sondheim, and as Nancy in a concert performance of Britten’s Albert Herring. Her frequent performances with the BBC orchestras include De Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat (BBC National Orchestra of Wales) as well as recordings of Ravel’s Sheherezade with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter with BBC Concert Orchestra.

Last season, Kitty released her second album, Nights not spent alone, to critical acclaim. Recorded in a co-production between Champs Hill Records and the BBC, and accompanied by distinguished pianist Simon Lepper, the disc presents complete works for mezzo-soprano by Jonathan Dove. It includes a song cycle of the same name dedicated to Kitty, which she premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 2015.

In the season 2018-19, Kitty sings Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide at Bergen National Opera following a concert performance of the role at The Grange Festival. Further operatic engagements include Isabella Wuthering Heights Opera National de Lorraine, Nancy. As a regular recitalist, concerts include a BBC Radio 3 recital as part of the NI Opera Festival in Belfast with pianist Simon Lepper, with whom she will also perform with at the Wigmore Hall, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde at the Mizmorim Festival, Basel, The Dream of Gerontius with Crouch End Festival Chorus, and performances of works by Jonathan Dove from her most recent disc Nights not Spent Alone at the Salisbury International Arts Festival.

Artist Website: www.kittywhately.com

Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Tom Wood

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