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Kathleen Battle

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Soprano Kathleen Battle sings "The Lord's Prayer," during the arrival ceremony in honor of Pope Benedict XVI on the South Lawn of the White House.

Kathleen Battle (born August 13 1948, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA) is an American lyric soprano.[1] She is particularly known for her pure timbre, exceptional technique and musicianship, and ability to connect with her audience.[citation needed]

Life and career

Early years and Musical Education

Battle is 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.[2]

Battle attended Portsmouth High School where her music teacher and mentor was Charles P. (Phil) Varney. In a Time Magazine interview with music critic 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." [3]

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.[4] 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.[5]

1970s

In 1972, Kathleen Battle began her professional career singing as the soprano soloist in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem at the 1972 Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy with Thomas Schippers conducting. Battle first auditioned for Schippers while teaching in Cincinnati public school system and continuing voice lessons with Franklin Bens. In her second year as a teacher, a friend and fellow church choir member phoned her and informed her that Thomas Schippers was holding audition. [6] [7]

During the next several years, Battle would go on to sing in several more orchestral concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.[8] 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.[9] In 1975, Battle made her professional operatic stage debut in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia as Rosina with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit. She made her New York City Opera debut the following year as Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. In 1977, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Shepherd in Wagner's Tannhäuser, under the baton of James Levine whom she openly acknowledges in shaping her Met career.[10]. Battle and Levine formed a friendship and musical partnership that resulted in several recordings and frequent performances in recital and concert performances as well, including engagements in Salzburg, Ravinia, and Carnegie Hall. In 1979 Battle made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival.[11]

1980s

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 the title role of Handel's Semele in a highly acclaimed performance in 1985 at Carnegie Hall and later recorded the role.[12] 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.[citation needed]

Critical response to Battle's performances has rarely varied throughout the years following her debut. In 1985, Time Magazine, pronounced her "the best lyric coloratura soprano in the world".[13]

1990s

The early 1990s saw Kathleen Battle continuing her opera, recital, and recording projects. In 1990 she performed in a series of solo recitals in California, as well as appearing at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in An Evening in Old Vienna, where according to the Los Angeles Daily News, she "held the whole of the Hollywood Bowl in her hands".[14] On March 18, 1990, she appeared in Spirituals In Concert at Carnegie Hall with Jessye Norman, conducted by James Levine. The concert was televised on PBS,[15] and the live recording was later released by Deutsche Grammophon. She also gave several joint performances with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, most notably in Alice Tully Hall in 1991 (the live recording of which was released by Sony Classical in 1993). Two studio recordings were also made in this period. In 1992, Sony Classical released Baroque Duet, a recording of baroque arias in collaboration with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. In 1993 Battle sang the title role in the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Semele which subsequently won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording of 1993.[16] One of her most important recital debuts during this period was her first solo recital in Carnegie Hall on April 27, 1991 as part of the hall's centennial season. Accompanied by pianist Margo Garrett she sang arias and songs by Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and Richard Strauss as well as several traditional spirtuals. The great contralto, Marian Anderson, who had ended her farewell tour with a recital at Carnegie Hall in April 1965, was in the audience that night as Battle dedicated Rachmaninoff's "In the Silence of the Secret Night" to her.[17] She returned to Carnegie Hall in January 1992 when she premiered Andre Previn's song cycle Honey and Rue, a setting of poems by Toni Morrison and composed specifically for Battle.[18] On the operatic stage, she made her role debut as Marie in La fille du régiment at San Francisco Opera in 1993.[19] Between 1990 and 1993, she also continued to sing leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera: Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (1990), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (1991 and 1993), and Adina in L'elisir d'amore (1991, 1992, and the Met's 1993 Japan Tour).[20]. Her appearances in L'elisir d'amore proved to be the last time she was to sing for the company.

Although Battle gave several critically praised performances at the Metropolitan Opera during the early 1990s, her relationship with the company's management showed increasing signs of strain during these years.[21] This culminated in February 1994, when Metropolitan Opera General Manager Joseph Volpe dismissed Battle from the upcoming production of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment for "unprofessional actions" during rehearsals. 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."[22] At the time of the dismissal, The New York Times reported that a number of people involved with the production 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." [23] Battle was replaced in La fille du régiment by Harolyn Blackwell.[24] In a statement released by her management company, Columbia Artists, 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." [25]

After her dismissal from the Met, Battle did not appear in opera performances. However, she continued to appear in concerts and recitals, as well as lending her voice to recordings and television appearances.

2000 - present

She has continued to pursue a number of diverse projects including the works of composers who do not traditionally compose classical music, performing the works of Vangelis, Stevie Wonder, and George Gershwin.

In August 2000, she performed an all-Schubert program at Ravinia. [26]. In June 2001 she and frequent collaborator Soprano Jessye Norman, performed Vangelis' Mythodea at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, Greece. In July 2003 she performed at the Ravinia Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gala with Bobby McFerrin and Denyce Graves. In 2006 she and James Ingram sang the song They Won't Go When I Go in an Tribute to Stevie Wonder[27] and she began including Wonder's music in her recitals. [28] On July 2007 she debuted at the Aspen Music Festival performing an all-Gershwin program as part of a season benefit.[29] In October 2007, at a fundraiser for the Keep a Child Alive Charity, Kathleen Battle and Alicia Keys performed the song Miss Sarajevo written by U2's Bono. [30].

On April 16, 2008 she sang an arrangement of The Lord's Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his Papal State visit to the White House. This marks the second time she sang for a pope. (She first sang for Pope John Paul II in 1985 as soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass.) [31]

Major debuts

Opera roles

Battle has portrayed the following roles on stage:

Choral and Symphonic Pieces

These are oratorio and other major non-Opera works that Battle has performed as a soloist:

Recital repertoire, soundtracks, and collaborations

Battle's classical repertoire encompasses the music of Bach, Barroso, Brahms, Bishop, Dowland, Charpentier, de Falla, Fauré, Gounod, Granados, Handel, Michael Head, Valdemar Henrique, Liszt, Martinů, Mendelssohn, Mompou, Mozart, Obradors, Ovalle, Poulenc, Purcell, Rachmaninov, Rameau, Roussel, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Richard and Johann Strauss, Turina, and Villa-Lobos. Her jazz and musical theatre repertoire includes the compositions of Ellington, Gershwin, Bernstein, and Previn. She is also known for her performances African-American spirituals.

Among the noted conductors with whom Battle has worked are 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 prominent 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 May Festival.[40]

In recital, she has been accompanied on the piano by various accompanists including Margo Garrett, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, James Levine, Joel Martin, Ken Noda, and Ted Taylor. Collaborations with other classical artists include 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, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and guitarist Christopher Parkening.

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. Battle also lent voice to the song "This Time" on Janet Jackson's album janet. and sang the title song, "Lovers," for the 2004 Chinese action movie, House of Flying Daggers.[41] She also performs the music of Stevie Wonder. [42]

Selected discography

Year Title Genre Label
2004 The Best of Kathleen Battle Classical Deutsche Grammophon
2004 Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate/Arias; Kathleen Battle; Andre Previn Classical EMI Classics
2002 Classic Battle: A Portrait Sony
1995 Battle & Domingo Live Classical Deutsche Grammophon
1995 So Many Stars Folk songs, Lullabies, Spirituals Sony
1992 Kathleen Battle w/ Wynton Marsalis Classical Sony
1991 Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman: Spirituals in Concert Spirituals Polygram
1990 Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart Classical EMI Classics
1990 A Christmas Celebration: Kathleen Battle Spirituals EMI Classics

1989 "Live In Tokyo 1988-Kathleen Battle-Placido Domingo-James Levine-Metropolitan Opera Orchestra." Classical Deutsche Grammophon
1985 Mozart: Requiem. Kathleen Battle, Ann Murray, David Rendall Matti Salminen. Die. D. Barenboim Classical EMI Classics

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Sony Classical
  2. ^ Randye Jones, Kathleen Battle Biography, Afrocentric Voices. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  3. ^ Michael Walsh, "At the Head of the Class, Time Magazine, November 11, 1985. Accessed 22 July 2008.
  4. ^ Richard LeSueur, "Kathleen Battle" Classical Artist Biographies, All Media Guide, 2008. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  5. ^ Randye Jones, Kathleen Battle Biography, Afrocentric Voices. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  6. ^ Nancy Malitz, "The Winning Battle, Ovation Magazine, May 1986, p 17
  7. ^ Eduardo Fradkin, May 16, 2008 Interview, O Globo. Accessed July 31, 2008.
  8. ^ Richard LeSueur, "Kathleen Battle" Classical Artist Biographies, All Media Guide, 2008. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  9. ^ Randye Jones, Kathleen Battle Biography, Afrocentric Voices. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  10. ^ Ovation
  11. ^ Richard LeSueur, "Kathleen Battle" Classical Artist Biographies, All Media Guide, 2008. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  12. ^ Richard LeSueur, "Kathleen Battle" Classical Artist Biographies, All Media Guide, 2008. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  13. ^ Michael Walsh, "At the Head of the Class, Time Magazine, November 11, 1985. Accessed 22 July 2008.
  14. ^ Los Angeles Daily News,Talent Aside, Piquing Singer's Interest is an Uphill Battle, August 6, 1990. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  15. ^ PBS, Great Performances 30th Anniversary. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  16. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  17. ^ Chicago Sun-Times, Battle's recital has a bonus, April 29, 1991. Accessed via subscription 23 July 2008.
  18. ^ Bernard Holland, Music in Review: 'Honey and Rue' Orchestra of St. Luke's Carnegie Hall, New York Times, January 7, 1992. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  19. ^ San Francisco Opera Performance Archives. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  20. ^ Kathleen Battle Performance Record, MetOpera Database. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  21. ^ Bernard Holland, Kathleen Battle Pulls Out Of 'Rosenkavalier' at Met, New York Times. January 30, 1993. Accessed 22 July 2008.
  22. ^ Allan Kozinn, The Met Drops Kathleen Battle, Citing 'Unprofessional Actions', February 8, 1994. Accessed 22 July 2008.
  23. ^ NY Times abstract
  24. ^ Edward Rothstein, Opera Review: After the Hoopla, 'La Fille du Regiment', New York Times, February 16, 1994. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  25. ^ Allan Kozinn, The Met Drops Kathleen Battle, Citing 'Unprofessional Actions', February 8, 1994. Accessed 22 July 2008.
  26. ^ Dan Tucker, http://www.newsday.com/search/mmx-8491_lgcy,0,6097930.story Classical review, Kathleen Battle at Ravinia, Chicago Tribune
  27. ^ An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Stevie Wonder on IMDb. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  28. ^ Kathleen Battle lives up to her top billing, The Royal Gazette (Bermuda), October 4, 2006. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  29. ^ Kyle MacMillan, Aspen books a soprano with a past, Denver Post, July 16, 2007. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  30. ^ Roger Freedman, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305301,00.html#2 Keys woos celebrities, Fox News, October 26, 2007. Accessed August 8, 2008.
  31. ^ http://www.sonybmgmasterworks.com/artists/viennaphilharmonicorchestra/highmasscelebratedbypopejohnpauliimozartcoronat_p10463.html Sony Masterworks: High Mass Celebrated by Pope John Paul II -- Mozart: Coronation Mass, K.317. Accessed August 4, 2008.
  32. ^ Internet Broadway Database. Accessed 24 July 2008
  33. ^ San Francisco Opera Performance Archives. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  34. ^ Kathleen Battle Performance Record, MetOpera Database. Accessed 23 July 2008.
  35. ^ Erik Smith, The Musical Times, Vol. 120, No. 1637, (July 1979), pp. 567-570
  36. ^ Lyric Opera of Chicago Performance Archives.Accessed 26 July 2008.
  37. ^ Salzburg Festival Program Archives,http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/Home/DIEINSTITUTION/Dienste/SPIELPLANARCHIV/SpielplanSuche/tabid/439/Default.aspx?k=kathleen%20battle&dv=1.1.1940&db=31.12.2007&typ=0 List of Battle's performances at Salzburg. Accessed August 9, 2008.
  38. ^ Joseph Whitaker, Whitaker's Almanack, 1986, p. 1023. ISBN 0850211611
  39. ^ Chicago Sun-Times, Battle's recital has a bonus, April 29, 1991. Accessed via subscription 23 July 2008.
  40. ^ Kathleen Battle (Soprano) - Short Biography on Bach-Cantatas
  41. ^ Soundtrack listing on Sony Classical
  42. ^ Kathleen Battle lives up to her top billing, The Royal Gazette (Bermuda), October 4, 2006. Accessed 24 July 2008.
  43. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  44. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  45. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  46. ^ Laurence Olivier Award List for Opera
  47. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  48. ^ Grammy Awards official web site
  49. ^ Kathleen Battle (Soprano) - Short Biography on Bach-Cantatas

External links


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