Kimberly Giordano

Soprano

Kimberly Giordano

Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Weld performs extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Her expertise extends from Baroque ornamentation to bel canto opera, from Mahler’s symphonic song cycles to world premieres of contemporary works. She has made two solo appearances with the New York Philharmonic, one in de Falla’s Three-cornered Hat with Charles Dutoit conducting and the other under the direction of Kurt Masur in Grieg’s Peer Gynt. She made her Carnegie Hall debut to critical acclaim in a performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor with Musica Sacra.

    Ms. Weld has performed frequently with the Seattle Symphony. Her appearances with them in Alexander Nevsky elicited strong praise for “her beauty of tone, a long line and a handsome shaping of Prokofiev's phrases”. Seattle PI RM Campbell. Highlights of additional symphonic work include Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Lied von der Erde, and Symphonies no. 2 and no. 3 with the Northwest Mahler Festival, Handel Messiah with the Osaka Telemann Chamber Orchestra in Japan and the Prague Philharmonic, and Berlioz Les Nuits d’Eté with Orchestra Seattle and the Rainier Symphony. Other northwest regional appearances include those with the Oregon Symphony, the Helena Symphony, the Wyoming Symphony, the Olympia Symphony, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. With the latter she was heard in a live broadcast of Messiah on National Public Radio. Weld can also be heard regularly in her role as Cathedral Soloist at St. James Cathedral. She has appeared and been featured on recordings with dozens of choirs from Germany and New York and throughout the northwest, including Opus 7, Seattle Pro Musica, the Seattle Chamber Singers, Cathedral Music at St. James, and Seattle Choral Company.

    On the stage, Ms. Weld has appeared with the Seattle Opera, the Regensburg Opera Theater in Germany, Opera Carolina, Tacoma Opera, Washington Opera East, and the State Repertory Opera of New Jersey, among others. Her roles include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and the Prince in Cendrillon. Recent roles include portraying the famous chef Julia Child in Lee Hoiby's one-woman opera Bon Appetit!, Augusta in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and the title role in the world premiere of the opera Kali at On the Boards. In reviewing Cendrillon, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported: “Weld has a remarkable voice, an expressive mezzo with an unusual timbre: full and warm with depth and a light vibrato shaping it.”

    While living in Germany, Ms. Weld was a featured soloist with such prominent ensembles as the Bavarian Radio Choir (Bayerischen Rundfunkchor), the Consortium Musicum of Munich, and the Prague Philharmonic. Other far flung performances include those with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicolas McGegan, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Mark Morris Dance Company, and the Osaka Chamber Orchestra and Sapporo Symphony in Japan.

    Acclaimed for her interpretations of lieder and contemporary art song in at least ten languages, Ms. Weld is a favorite guest artist in chamber music festivals and in recital. She has been featured with the Seattle Chamber Players, Music of Remembrance Concerts, the Nordic Heritage Museum Concerts and the Battelle Young Artists Recitals in Seattle, 2nd City Chamber Music and Jacobsen Concerts in Tacoma, and the Trinity Concerts and YWCA Recital Series in New York. She recently gave her first concerts in Paris, France with internationally renowned accompanist Laurana Mitchelmore, as well as concerts in Helsinki and St. Petersburg.

    Before her present positions on the voice faculty at Western Washington University and Cornish College of the Arts, Ms. Weld taught at the University of Puget Sound. She has presented guest master classes throughout the northwest in topics ranging from Baroque to contemporary style and interpretation, as well as those on French and German art song and diction. She received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance cum laude from the University of Redlands in California and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and further doctoral studies at the University of Washington.