Katherine Lerner, Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Lerner, a second-year Ryan Opera Center member, recently completed graduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. Roles at Curtis included Lorca/Osvaldo Golijovs Ainadamar (Philadelphia premiere), as well as Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro, Sicle/LOrmindo, Mezzo-Soprano/Postcard from Morocco, and Suzy/La rondine. The mezzos stage repertoire encompasses roles as varied as Frau Reich/Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Mme. de Croissy/Dialogues des Carmtes, Florence Pike/Albert Herring, and the Second Witch/Dido and Aeneas all performed at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she graduated with dual degrees in voice and historical performance. She has also been heard as Mother Goose/The Rakes Progress at the Chautauqua Institution and the Second Graduate/Street Scene at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Lerner recently received the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, 2nd prize in the Florida Grand Opera Voice competition, and 3rd place in the Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus International Vocal Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and at the John F. Kennedy Center (with the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble). She gave several song recitals at the Ravinia Festivals Steans Institute last summer. In the Lyric's 2008-2009 season, she made her debut as Rosette/Manon, and later performed Mutter/Lulu and Lola in Cavalleria rusticana. In the fall of the 2009-2010 season, she returns to the Lyric to perform Siebel in Faust. This is Ms. Lerner's Bourbon Baroque and Louisville debut performing the role of Bradamante in Handel's Alcina.