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The American soprano, Kathryn Mueller, began her musical studies on the edge of Arizona’s White Mountain Apache Reservation. She got her first pro gig – a section leader position at a church in Providence – during high school in Rhode Island,. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Music degree (Magna cum laude) from the Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island (2001), and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The University of Arizona in Tucson (2006). She spent a summer in Salzburg, Austria, where she studied Lieder at the Mozarteum. Among her teachers were James Busby, George Gibson, Nina Hinson, Charles Roe and Kathleen Wilson. She also attended master-clases with Benjamin Bagby, Barbara Cook, Drew Minter, Daniel Pinkham and Stephen Stubbs. She won prizes at the Oratorio Society of New York's Solo Competition and Early Music America's Baroque Performance Competition.
Kathryn Mueller has made a mark with her "appealing stage presence of personal warmth and musicianship", singing a wide range of repertoire from period Baroque performances to world premieres of new works. Praised for her “pure sound” and “glorious high notes,” (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Arizona Daily Star), she delights audiences in both concert and operatic performances. She has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Portland Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, Santa Fe Pro Musica, New Trinity Baroque (Atlanta), Chicago's Ars Antigua, Charlotte Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, and Tucson Symphony Orchestra.
Favorite concert works include Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano, Haydn’s Creation, J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245), and anything by W.A. Mozart or George Frideric Handel. Solo performances include J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (University of Arizona 2005), St. John Passion (BWV 245) (Tucson Masterworks Chorale 2006; New Trinity Baroque, Atlanta 2008), and Magnificat (BWV 243), W.A. Mozart's Requiem (Tucson Chamber Artists 2008) and C Minor Mass (Tucson Chamber Artists 2006), G.F. Handel's Messiah and L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (University of AZ Community Chorus 2007), and Igor Stravinsky’s Pribaoutki. She has sung the operatic roles of Amy in Adamo's Little Women (University of Arizona 2006), Monica in Mennoti's The The Medium (University of Arizona 2005), and Miss Pinkerton in Mennoti's The Old Maid and the Thief (Arizona Opera 2006). She has also sung with the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera and other opera companies. She collaborates as a guest artist with the award-winning early music group Wayward Sisters, and has also sung operatic roles for Arizona Opera, the North Carolina HIP Music Festival, and Bach Collegium San Diego (Director: Ruben Valenzuela).
An accomplished choral musician as well as a soloist, Kathryn Mueller is a member of some of the finest choral ensembles in the USA, including currently the Handel and Haydn Society, Seraphic Fire (Miami, Florida), and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and previously Tucson Chamber Artists, the Washington Bach Consort and Woodley Ensemble. She also sings with the internationally-acclaimed medieval group LIBER.
Kathryn Mueller gave the world premiere of Ananda Sukarlan’s song cycle Love and Variations, commissioned for her vocal-piano ensemble, the Swara Sonora Trio. She made her Asian debut on an Indonesian concert tour with the Swara Sonora Trio, and her Latin American debut during concerts in Central Mexico with the period orchestra Capella Guanajuatensis. Recent performances include repeat engagements with Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and her debut with the Albuquerque Baroque Players.
Kathryn Mueller has recorded extensively with New Trinity Baroque on the Edition Lilac label, and is also featured as a soloist on recordings by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Seraphic Fire, and Tucson Chamber Artists. Her honors include a GRAMMY nomination for her solo work on True Concord’s album "Far in the Heavens". She has also recorded two GRAMMY-nominated albums with Seraphic Fire, and is featured as a soloist on Seraphic Fire’s best-selling Monteverdi Vespers of 1610.
Kathryn Mueller is currently based in Raleigh, North Carolina and is on the voice faculty of East Carolina University. In 2011 she was one of four fellows in the prestigious Adams Vocal Master Class at the Carmel Bach Festival. |
