Kathryn Lewek has established herself as one of opera’s most thrilling coloratura sopranos of this generation, performing some of the most vocally challenging roles in the repertoire, joining the top-ranking operatic performers of all time. Lewek made an “especially brilliant” (Backtrack) début as Ginevra in Ariodante with the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele in Austria, opposite Cecilia Bartoli, where Ms. Lewek “perform[ed] a miracle” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) and thrilled audiences with “a rich (and richly differentiated) soprano voice [that] has not been experienced for a long time.” (Salzburger Nachrichten). She returned summer 2019 in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Orphée aux Enfers, “ravishingly” (Bachtrack) singing the “the raunchy, full-throttle” (Financial Times) role of Eurydice, wowing critics and audiences alike for her versatility as a performer and prompting Opera Wire to exclaim her Artist of the Week – not to mention a five-page spread in Salzburg’s official festival magazine.
The DVD of Orphée aux Enfers, which was nominated by the International Classical Music Awards, was released Worldwide in 2020 by Naxos on the UNITEL Edition label and is available on Amazon. The Blu-ray DVD of Ariodante was released Worldwide by Naxos in May of 2021, also on the UNITEL Edition label. Her latest album Handel: Apollo e Dafne & Armida abbandonata (Pentatone/Naxos – 2021) was released Worldwide in February of 2022 with critics exclaiming, “Having led Handel’s Messiah, Orlando and Ariodante onstage, soprano Kathryn Lewek here turns to Handel cantatas. Her selection is shrewd: Armida abbandonata and Apollo e Dafne both channel technical, affective and dramatic prima donna power. Lewek wields this power majestically… builds on these distinctions in how she modulates her instrument and elaborates her melodies. Her Armida commands vocal muscle and jagged cadenzas, while her Dafne is all limpid purity sprinkled with agréments. The effect is spellbinding.” (BBC Music Magazine)
Last season, Lewek surpassed the record for the most performances in the role of The Magic Flute’s Queen of the Night by a single artist at The Metropolitan Opera, marking her eighth season with the house. She also performed the illustrious role at Gran Teatre del Liceu under Maestro Dudamel, and made her role début as Violetta in La Traviata at Toledo Opera. In the same season, Dallas Opera hosted her for their Opera’s Greatest Hits! concerts and she returned to the New Choral Society for her unparalleled presentation of Handel’s Messiah. This season’s engagements include role débuts of Countess Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as a reprisal of the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for Opéra de Nice. Lewek will make house débuts with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Semperoper Dresden as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, and will sing the role in returns to the Vienna Staatsoper and The Metropolitan Opera for their new production, marking her 50th performance of the role at the house. Future seasons include reprisals of the roles of Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Violetta in La Traviata, as well as long awaited role débuts of Juliette in Romeo et Juliette and Gilda in Rigoletto.
Ms. Lewek’s interpretation of her signature role, the quintessential Mozart villain, has labeled her the current reigning Queen of the Night of the world, with productions of Die Zauberflöte with over 25 companies in over 300 performances to date, including The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, The Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bregenzer Festspiele, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Wiener Straatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Festival Castell de Peralada, Opera Leipzig, The Royal Danish Opera, amongst others.
With an impressive history of leading female roles in her career, recent seasons’ engagements have also included Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini with Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Deutsche Oper Berlin and subsequently in her house début with the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich); a reprisal of her performance as Ginevra in Ariodante with Opera Monte Carlo; the title role of Maria Stuarda with Edmonton Opera; Angelica in Handel’s masterpiece Orlando on tour throughout Europe; and Jessica in the world première of André Tchaikowsky’s Kupiec Wenecki (The Merchant of Venice) with Bregenzer Festspiele. This production was awarded the International Opera Award 2014 in the category “Best World Première”.
Additional engagements have included Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Toledo Opera and Opera Carolina; Angelica in Händel’s Orlando with The Hobart Baroque in Tasmania; La Fée in Cendrillon with New Orleans Opera; and Cunegonde in Francesca Zambello’s Candide in her company début with Glimmerglass Opera. Earlier in her career she achieved international critical acclaim: “Kathryn Lewek, a favorite Queen of the Night these days, nailed her otherworldly coloratura arpeggios to the wall in her ‘Vengeance’ aria, but more impressive to me was the pathos with which she quickly conveyed, in Act 1, the full suffering of a mother whose child has been kidnapped.” in performances with Opera de Toulon, English National Opera, Nashville Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Welsh National Opera, and in concert with the Pacific Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and as one of the ten pieces in “Sir Henry’s Magnificent Musical Inspirations” concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at BBC Proms Classical Music Festival.
Of her Carnegie Hall début in Händel’s Messiah, The New York Times hailed “Communicative verve and thrilling beauty came together in the soprano Kathryn Lewek. She began ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion’ at exhilarating speed, then took her time on the words ‘He shall speak peace,’ lovingly ornamenting the cadence in a way that was both original and entirely subservient to the music.” She has since performed the piece with both the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra of New York at Carnegie Hall every season since 2012. Having been widely lauded for her numerous operatic and oratorio performances, Ms. Lewek is also receiving critical acclaim for her decisive interpretations of contemporary art song and vast concert repertoire. Recent concert engagements for Ms. Lewek include Bach’s B-minor Mass with Soli deo Gloria, Carmina Burana with Dallas Symphony, Celebrating Leonard Bernstein at 100 for Washington National Opera, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and Haydn’s Creation under the baton of the illustrious Maestro John Nelson. She frequently performs in Gala concerts and solo recitals across the country in a variety of repertoire, as well as with her husband, tenor Zach Borichevsky, most recently for The Opera Foundation, Rockefeller University, and Messiah College.
Additionally, she enjoyed appearances at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, on the Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Music of the Baroque, the Fairfield County Chorale, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Great Neck Choral Society, Finger Lakes Choral Society, the Greenwich Choral Society, and the Rochester Chamber Orchestra. With these and other orchestras, she performed in Händel’s Israel in Egypt; Mozart’s C-minor Mass, Krönungsmesse (Coronation Mass), and Requiem; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli and Große Orgelmesse; Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Judas Maccabeus, and Christ lag in Todesbanden; Brahms’ Requiem; Mendelsshon’s Elijah; Carissimi’s Vanitas Vanitatum; Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610; and Zelenka’s Te Deum.
Ms. Lewek has two additional recordings on the Albany Records label, Kathryn Lewek sings Cary Ratcliff, and the collaborative album Quicksilver, with the internationally acclaimed guitar and flute duo Nicholas Goluses and Bonita Boyd. Ms. Lewek began her career as the grand prize winner of the Opera Foundation’s International Vocal Scholarship and was granted a contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she performed roles in thirteen productions. Whilst there she also performed Dolcina in Suor Angelica with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester.
She was a double prize winner at the 2013 Operalia World Opera Competition including the highly competitive Audience Favorite Award. Ms. Lewek earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Voice Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she was also awarded a Performance Certificate in Voice for her many successes upon the Eastman Theater stage. She was a Music Academy Fellow during the summer of 2009 at the Music Academy of the West in Marilyn Horne’s esteemed vocal program where she was hailed as “…one of those inspiring triumphs from the wings” and was praised for her “strength and radiance.” Ms. Lewek continues her vocal studies with the internationally renowned soprano, Diana Soviero, in New York City.
