Kathleen Brett soprano

Soprano Kathleen Brett, top prize winner and recipient of a special award as Best Canadian Singer at the 1991 International Glory of Mozart Competition, has received numerous awards since the beginning of her career including the prestigious Sullivan Award from the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation of New York. The excellence of her interpretative skills and the beauty of her voice have made her much sought after as an artist both in North America and in Europe.

During the 2001-2002 season Ms. Brett traveled to Calgary Opera where she sang Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Arizona Opera for Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and to DeVlaamse Opera in Antwerp where she perfomed Dorinda in Orlando. She also appeared at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago for Haydn?s Mass in C major, with the Utah Symphony for Faure?s Requiem and the Vancouver Bach Choir for Bach?s St. Matthew Passion. A favorite of conductor Erich Kunzel, Ms. Brett performs several pops programs with the maestro, with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and theToronto Symphony.

The 2002/03 season saw her return to Arizona to perform Gretel (Hansel & Gretel) as well Musetta (La Boh?me) with the Vancouver Opera. Orchestral concerts included a return to Utah (Mahler?s Fourth Symphony), the Minnesota Orchestra (Messiah), and a holiday tour with the Boston Pops. In 2003/4 she looks forward to singing Leila in The Pearlfishers at Arizona Opera, Juliette at Calgary Opera, Gretel for Utah Opera, and concerts with the symphonies of Cincinnati and Detroit.

Ms. Brett has enjoyed a long artistic collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company where she has portrayed a variety of roles including Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro; Romilda in the Stephen Wadsworth production of Handel?s Xerxes; and the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw. Among her many other appearances in Canada she has performed the roles of Nannetta in Falstaff and Pamina with L'Op?ra de Montr?al; L?ila in Les P?cheurs de perles with Manitoba Opera; Adina in Calgary Opera's L?elisir d?amore; and Pamina in the David Hockney production of Die Zauberfl?te with Edmonton Opera. Critically acclaimed debuts have included Handel's Orlando, in a Robert Carsen production, with De Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp; Gluck's Orph?e et Euridice with L'Op?ra Fran?ais de New York at Lincoln Center; and Le nozze di Figaro with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. She has appeared as Drusilla in L'Incoronazione di Poppea and as Pamina in Die Zauberfl?te with The Dallas Opera and as Kristina in The Makropulos Case with San Francisco Opera. Ms. Brett is also featured as Kristina in the Canadian Opera Company video of The Makropulos Case.

Other notable appearances have included the roles of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Ninette in The Love of Three Oranges at the New York City Opera, Michaela in Carmen at the Edmonton Opera, Pamina at Vancouver Opera. Serpina in La Serva Padrona under Mario Bernardi at Canada's Sharon Festival; Despina in Cos? fan tutte with Vancouver Opera; Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Manitoba Opera; Amarilli in Handel's Il Pastor Fido with Opera Atelier (Toronto); and Susanna with Pacific Opera Victoria. She also joined the latter company, receiving great acclaim, in the title role of Rom?o et Juliette. Recent operatic appearances also have included Le Nozze di Figaro with L?Opera de Monte Carlo; Cos? fan tutte with Opera Pacific, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and Boston Baroque; Nannetta with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera; and both Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito and Iris in Semele for De Vlaamse Opera, L?ila at Opera Lyra Ottawa and Servilia for Dallas Opera.

Ms. Brett has performed with every major Canadian orchestra and with many of the finest in America including those of Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Recent concert dates include "Viennese? programs with the Cincinnati Symphony under Jesus L?pez-Cobos and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yves Abel; Messiah with L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montr?al; the Faur? Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony; Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with The Toronto Symphony under Gunther Herbig. She has also performed a program of opera duets with the Phoenix Symphony, and has appeared in concerts with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In recital Ms. Brett toured the U.K. with the Aldeburgh Connection of Toronto with whom she also has recorded the Brahms and Schumann Liebeslieder. Equally comfortable in the American popular repertoire, she has performed at the festivals of Ravinia (Chicago); Meadowbrook (Detroit); and Riverbend (Cincinnati). She is featured on the Cincinnati Pops recording (Telarc) of Meredith Willson's The Music Man singing the role of Marian the Librarian.

July 2003

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