Background
Lyric coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle was born on August 13, 1948, in Portsmouth, Ohio.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V6OMY8/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001GNP/?tag=2022091-20
Lyric coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle was born on August 13, 1948, in Portsmouth, Ohio.
The youngest of seven children whose father was a steel worker, she attended public schools in a segregated school system. She remained relatively unexposed to opera until her teens and, no doubt aware of the limited opportunities afforded to African Americans, steered a practical course for herself, studying typing and shorthand in high school. Although she took the advice of a high school music teacher to study music at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory, she opted not for the performance curriculum but for an education degree, which would enable her to teach. Her voice teacher during her college years was Franklin Bens.
Having received a bachelor's degree in 1970 and a master's in 1971, Battle taught grades four through six for the next two years in the Cincinnati public school system. Meanwhile, she continued to take voice lessons and also to study German and acting while taking singing jobs in and around Cincinnati.
Battle is 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.
In 1972 she auditioned successfully for Thomas Shippers, then the director of both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival. He arranged for her professional debut that year in a performance of the Brahms Requiem in Spoleto. Her American debut followed as a repeat performance of the piece with the Cincinnati Orchestra later that year.
The following year Battle came to the attention of James Levine while singing at the Cincinnati May Festival. He immediately engaged her in his guest-conducting tour around the United States. Included in this tour was the Ravinia Festival, to which she returned for several summers as an artist in residence. She moved to New York in 1975 after an engagement in a Broadway production of Scott Joplin's Treemonisha.
She made her professional operatic debut as Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville with the Michigan Opera Theater, and her New York debut followed in 1976 with the City Opera as Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. But it was again Levine who brought her rapidly to stardom. In 1977 he offered her the role of the shepherdess in Wagner's Tannhauser at the Metropolitan Opera, where her debut took place on December 22, 1977. Battle's physical beauty, captivating stage presence, and a seemingly effortless virtuosity quickly made her a favorite there; and the following years secured her reputation.
Possessing a light, sweet voice of extreme agility, Battle wisely avoided the heavier operatic roles. Among composers she favored Mozart for his precision and clarity of line, his rhythmic vitality, and the appropriateness of the color and weight of his music to her voice. Mozart roles included Pamina in The Magic Flute, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, and Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio. Other important parts were Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Zdenka in Arabella, both by Richard Strauss, another favorite composer; Oskar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera; and Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
Battle did not limit her career to the opera, but divided appearances rather equally between opera, song recitals, and performances of vocal works involving larger ensembles. She achieved much commercial success for recordings of her song recitals, which were additionally attractive in that they frequently offered music other than the standard fare. Among her most popular song recordings are those with the guitarist Christopher Parkening (The Pleasure of Their Company), the violinist Itzhak Perlman (The Bach Album), and the trumpeter Winton Marsalis (Baroque Duet). In 1990 she presented a concert of spirituals, also recorded, with Jessye Norman (Spirituals in Concert). Although the concert received some criticism for its "pseudo-Gershwin" arrangements, both singers triumphed over what could have been an inappropriate artificiality. Battle often closed song recitals with a group of spirituals.
Other popular recordings are Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart, Salzburg Recital, and At Carnegie Hall. In June 1986 she gave a command performance, nationally televised, for President Reagan at the White House. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in 1983.
Battle's reputation as a temperamental singer was wellknown and was documented along with her rise to fame. In February 1994 she was dismissed from the Met's production of Donizetti's Fille du Régiment for what officials cited as her "unprofessional actions during rehearsals. " At the same time the company withdrew all other offers for future engagements.
Battle has been pursuing other avenues through a variety of professional performances. In 1995, Battle's voice was heard on four albums, and she appeared on the television special An Evening with Kathleen Battle and Thomas Hampson. She opened Lincoln Center's 1995-96 jazz season with a concert, and has appeared on tour throughout the United States. With Christopher Parkening she released Angels Glory, a compilation of Christmas songs for the 1996 season. A Christmas Celebration was released in 1997, and also includes music for the holidays.
Battle has continued to pursue a number of diverse projects including the works of composers who are not associated with traditional classical music, performing the works of Vangelis, Stevie Wonder, and George Gershwin.
In August 2000, she performed an all-Schubert program at Ravinia. 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 a Tribute to Stevie Wonder and she began including Wonder's music in her recitals. In July 2007 she debuted at the Aspen Music Festival performing an all-Gershwin program as part of a season benefit. 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.
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. ) Later that year, she performed "Superwoman" on the American Music Awards with Alicia Keys and Queen Latifah. Since that time she has appeared in the occasional piano-voice recital, including a recital of works by Schubert, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff in Costa Mesa, California accompanied by Olga Kern (February 2010) and a recital in Carmel, Indiana accompanied by Joel A. Martin (April 2013). After a 22-year absence from the Metropolitan Opera House, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Met in November 2016.
She received three Grammy awards for her recordings: Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart (1986), Salzburg Recital (1987), and Ariadne auf Naxos (1987). Battle's 1986 collaboration with guitarist Christopher Parkening entitled Pleasures of Their Company was nominated for the Classical Album of the Year Grammy award. She also received the Laurence Olivier Award (1985) for her stage performance as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Opera House, London. The recording of "In the Silence of the Secret Night" earned Battle her fourth Grammy award. She also won her fifth Grammy Award in 1993, singing the title role of Semele on the Deutsche Grammophon recording conducted by John Nelson.
Quotations:
“The question is not. .. if art is enough to fulfill my life, but if I am true to the path I have set for myself, if I am the best I can be in the things I do. Am I living up to the reasons I became a singer in the first place?”
“Wynton and Christopher were really great experiences for me because they are both very gifted artists. ”
