Biography
Soprano Katherine Jolly focuses on physical and mental wellness in her teaching, using yoga, dance, and mindfulness exercises to support solid vocal technique. She has presented workshops of coauthored research on yoga, singing, and performance anxiety at conferences of the International Congress of Voice Teachers, Voice Foundation, Performing Artists Medical Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and the College Music Society.
Jolly is a frequent judge and clinician with organizations including the National Opera Association, Schmidt Foundation, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Washington National Opera, NATS, Interlochen Summer Academy, and ArtsBridge.
A bright, accomplished singer on opera and concert stages, Jolly has appeared in leading coloratura and soubrette roles in multiple seasons with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, Amarillo Opera, Piedmont Opera, Union Avenue Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, American Lyric Theater, and others. In the concert arena, she has performed with the Virginia Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Lima Symphony, Bach Society of Saint Louis, Cleveland Composers Guild, Chamber Project STL, Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, and Musica Sacra.
Jolly is a winner of the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals, about which The New York Times wrote: "Katherine Jolly used her agile, bright lyric soprano to superb effect in showpieces from Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail and Ariadne auf Naxos.” Jolly returned to the Met in spring 2010 to workshop An Enchanted Island and was featured with City Opera’s VOX series for the new operas Acquanetta and Josephine, which was broadcast on NPR. The recording Preach Sister, Preach was released in 2019 on Navona records and earned rave reviews.
In addition to her Met Opera honors, Jolly has received awards from the George London Foundation, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the McAllister Foundation.
Jolly earned Doctorate of Musical Arts (2015) and Master of Music (2001) degrees at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Barbara Honn and Thomas Baresel. She completed a Bachelor of Music (1999) at Boston University under the tutelage of Phyllis Hoffman.
She has been a member of the faculty at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she received a New Frontiers Grant for Creative Activity, and at Saint Louis University, where she was awarded a Mellon Faculty Career Grant and was a 2016-17 finalist for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in the College of Arts and Sciences.
