About this Artist
Acclaimed for her rich, opulent voice, American mezzo-soprano CATHERINE KEEN appears regularly with many of the most prestigious opera companies of North America and Europe. Trained as an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera where her roles included Maddalena in Rigoletto, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, she has returned regularly to that company, showing off her versatility as an actress and as a musician, in a variety of roles including Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fricka in Wagner’s Ring cycle, Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Kundry in Parsifal, and Venus in Tannhäuser.
Her international career was launched in performances of the title role of Samson et Dalila at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a role which she has performed subsequently at the Netherlands Opera. With that company she also has appeared as Frederica in Luisa Miller and as Emilia in Otello.
Operatic engagements of recent seasons also have included Tannhäuser at the Royal Danish Opera, Luisa Miller with the Grand Théâtre de Genèvre, Samson et Dalila at the Florida Grand Opera, her Italian debut as Amneris in Aida and Fenena in Nabucco at the Arena di Verona, Aida with the Houston Grand Opera, and the role of Cornelia in Washington Opera’s presentation of Giulio Cesare.
Ms. Keen enjoys a rich collaborative relationship with the Cincinnati Symphony having performed a wide range of repertoire from de Falla’s El Amor Brujo and Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Schubert’s Rosamunde. With the Symphony and James Conlon she has sung Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde and she has assayed the role of Brangäne in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde under the direction of Jesus López-Cobos. With Donald Runnicles, she has sung Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Paris and Symphony No. 8 at the Edinburgh Festival.
Engagements of the present season and beyond include Kundry, opposite the Parsifal of Plácido Domingo, at the Washington Opera, Rigoletto and Samson et Dalila at San Francisco Opera, The Rape of Lucretia at Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the Netherlands Opera.
Please visit Ms. Keen’s website at www.catherinekeen.com.