Kathleen Battle (b. August 13 1948) is an American Lyric Soprano. She is particularly known for her pure timbre, exceptional technique and musicianship, and ability to connect with her audience.

Life and career

Early life and Musical Education

Battle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children. Her father was a steelworker, and her mother was an active participant in the gospel music of the family's African Methodist Episcopal church. It was through Battle's musical experiences with her mother and at church that she first grew to love music.^[1]

Battle attended Portsmouth High School where her music teacher and mentor was Charles Varney. In a Time magazine interview with reporter Michael Walsh, he told of his wonder at first hearing the eight-year old Battle sing, describing her as "this tiny little thing singing so beautifully." "I went to her later," Varney recalled, "and told her God had blessed her, and she must always sing." ^[2]

Battle was a good student and was awarded a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she studied voice with Franklin Bens and also worked with Italo Tajo.^[3] She majored in music education rather than performance in undergraduate school and went on to get a master's degree in Music Education as well. In 1971 Battle embarked on a teaching career in Cincinnati, even though she was encouraged to seek a vocal career. Battle took a teaching position at a Cincinnati inner-city public school. She taught music to students aged 10 through 12 and thus fulfilled her desire to give back to the African-American community. While teaching 5th and 6th grade music, she studied voice privately.^[4]

Early Career and Major Debuts

Battle's professional career was launched after an audition with Thomas Schippers (then conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Battle was hired and made her professional debut singing the soprano solos in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem at the 1972 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

During the next several years, Battle would go on to sing in several more orchestral concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.^[5] In 1974 conductor James Levine selected Battle to sing the Mater Glorioso in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at the Cincinnati Symphony's May Festival. This was the beginning of a close professional association between Battle and Levine that would last for years. ^[6] In 1979 Battle made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival.^[7]

Battle's success and fame grew in the 1980s. Her important opera roles at Salzburg were Susanna, Zerlina, and Despina, three Mozart roles with which she has been associated at many opera houses around the world. She has appeared at most of the major opera houses of the world including San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Royal Opera, London, English National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Vienna State Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1985, she was the soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral at the Vatican, in a performance conducted by Herbert von Karajan. She sang Handel's Semele in a highly acclaimed performance in 1985 at Carnegie Hall and later recorded the role. ^[8] On January 1, 1987, Karajan invited Battle to sing a waltz during Vienna's New Year's Day concert, the only time Karajan conducted the internationally televised annual event and the first time a singer had been engaged for such a contribution.

Critical response to Battle's performances has rarely varied throughout the ensuing years following her debut. Time magazine, among others, pronounced her "the best lyric coloratura soprano in the world" in 1985. ^[9]

Major Debuts

• In 1972, she made her professional debut singing the soprano solos in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy

• In 1975, Battle went to New York when she was offered an understudy part in Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha.

• In 1976 she made her operatic debut at the Michigan Opera Theatre in as Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville. That same year, she returned to New York in her debut with the New York City Opera as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro.

• In 1978 (September 18, 1978), she made her debut under Levine's direction as the shepherd in Wagner's Tannhauser. ^[10]

• In 1983, she made her first appearance at Salzburg at an all-Mozart concert, and she often returned in concert, recital and opera to the city.

• In 1991, She made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut as part of the 100th anniversary season celebrations at Carnegie Hall, for which she won a Grammy.

Termination From Metropolitan Opera

Kathleen Battle first gained the tag "difficult" in 1983 when working with Kiri Te Kanawa in a production of Arabella. Some production staff advised her to request restoring of parts of Zdenka (Kathleen Battle's part) that were cut. Te Kanawa denied the requests, and their relationship subsequently deteriorated. However, "Those who have found her occasionally difficult," noted Holland "usually agree that her skirmishes are fought in the name of the music rather than personal aggrandizement." Matthew A. Epstein, a noted music producer who has worked with Ms. Battle in a production of Handel's Semele at Carnegie Hall, also stated "She is not a pushover; she's a professional liberated woman." ^[11]

In 1994 Metropolitan Opera General Manager Joseph Volpe dismissed Battle for "unprofessional actions." At the time of the dismissal, The New York Times reported that a number of people involved with the upcoming production of Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment said that Battle had been "difficult" and "uncooperative even after rehearsal schedules were changed to accommodate her demands, and that she had upset other members of the cast." ^[12] Volpe called Battle's conduct "profoundly detrimental to the artistic collaboration among all the cast members" and indicated that he had "canceled all offers that have been made for the future."

In a statement released by her management company, Columbia Artists, Miss Battle said: "I was not told by anyone at the Met about any unprofessional actions. To my knowledge, we were working out all of the artistic problems in the rehearsals, and I don't know the reason behind this unexpected dismissal. All I can say is I am saddened by this decision." " ^[13]

In his 2006 memoirs, Volpe wrote that James Levine had advised against the dismissal at the time ^[14] and went on to write, "[I've] wondered whether it was partly prompted by my desire to establish my authority at the Met. Perhaps it was. ^[15]

Later Career

Since the dismissal from the Met, Kathleen Battle has not appeared in Opera performances. However Kathleen Battle continues to appear in concerts and recitals, as well as lending her voice to recordings and television appearances.

In 2006 she appeared in an All-Star Tribute to Steview Wonder ^[16] On July 14 2007 she debuted at the Aspen Music Festival performing an all Gershwin program as part of a season benefit on the recommendation of David Zinman, Music Director and respected conductor. ^[17]

Opera roles

Battle portrayed opera ingenues, soubrettes and heroines, such as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. She has also portrayed Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne Auf Naxos, Sophie in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Oscar in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Blonde in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and the title role of Handel's Semele.

Selective discography

Choral, recital repertoire, soundtracks, and collaborations

Battle's repertoire embraces the classical music of Bach, Barroso, Brahms, Bishop, Dowland, Charpentier, de Falla, Faure, Gounod, Granados, Handel, Michael Head, Valdemar Henrique, Liszt, Martinu, Mendelssohn, Mompou, Mozart, Obradors, Ovalle, Poulenc, Purcell, Rachmaninov, Rameau, Roussel, Saint-Saens, Schubert, Richard and Johann Strauss, Turina, and Villa-Lobos; the jazz and musical theatre compositions of Ellington, Gershwin, Bernstein, and Previn. (Previn collaborated with the Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison to create the song cycle "Honey and Rue" for her.) Kathleen Battle´s repertoire also includes African-American Spirituals, for which she is particularly known. In 2006, she added the music of Stevie Wonder, 22-time grammy award winner, to her repertoire. ^[18] She sang the title song, "Lovers," for the Chinese action movie, House of Flying Daggers

Kathleen Battle has worked with and collaborated with some the world's most respected conductors and artists. Battle has worked with many of the world's most renowned conductors including Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Battle's fellow Ohioan James Levine, music director at New York's Metropolitan Opera. She has performed with many of the world's finest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Orchestre de Paris. She has also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Blossom Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, Mann Music Centre Festival and the Caramoor Festival, and at Cincinnati's May Festival.^[19] She has also made many recordings and videos.

She has also collaborated with many important artists including flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, Sopranos Jessye Norman, Frederica Von Stade, and Florence Quivar, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Baritone Thomas Hampson, Tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, and guitarist Christopher Parkening. In 1992 she and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis collaborated on the album "Baroque Duet" showcasing their virtuosic technique in the baroque repertoire. She was also soprano co-lead in Vangelis' project Mythodea.

On the less classical side, she has worked with vocalists Al Jarreau and Bobby McFerrin, Jazz Saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., Jazz Pianists Cyrus Chestnut and Herbie Hancock, and pop singer Janet Jackson.

Awards/Honors

• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart, 1986
• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Salzburg Recital, 1987
• Grammy, Best Opera Recording for Richard Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos, 1987
• Laurence Olivier Award, Best Performance in a New Opera Production (debut at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)^[20]
• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall (Handle, Mozart, Liszt, Strauss, etc.), 1992
• Emmy, Outstanding Individual Achievement - Classical Music/Dance Programming - Performance (For the Metropolitan Opera Silver Anniversary Gala), 1992
• Grammy, Best Opera Recording for Handel: Semele, 1993

• Battle is a the recipient of six honorary doctorates from American universities. They include: the University of Cincinnati, Westminster Choir College, Ohio University, Xavier University, Amherst College, and Seton Hall University.^[21]

• NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award, 1999

References

BOOKS

• Joseph Volpe with Charles Michener, The Toughest Show on Earth (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).

External links

• Kathleen Battle - Short Biography
• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks

Donate to Wikimedia