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. Last season reached the remarkable milestone of Kathryn’s 50th performance of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) as Die Königin der Nacht (The Queen of the Night) at The Metropolitan Opera, which surpasses The Met’s record for the most performances of an opera role by a single artist. The New York Times declared her performance “utterly enthralling, emitting richly glowing bursts of notes like a collapsing star.” 

Ms. Lewek’s interpretation of the quintessential Mozart villain has labeled her the reigning Queen of the Night, with productions of Die Zauberflöte with more than 25 companies in over 300 performances to date, including The Royal Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, The Royal Danish Opera, amongst others. Lewek’s plush, buoyant dramatic coloratura has received widespread acclaim on the global stage, pinning her as the soprano who “executes this stratospherically difficult role better than anyone alive” (The New Yorker).

The upcoming 2023-2024 season will see Lewek in an array of brilliant roles. Two highly anticipated role debuts will include the title role of Lakmé at Opéra de Nice, followed by her portrayal of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera, alongside tenor Zach Borichevsky, Lewek’s husband, as Romeo. Additional performances include Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Semperoper Dresden; a debut as Madame Herz/Tonina in a pastiche of Der Schauspieldirektor with the Vienna Philharmonic; and, Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Lewek will perform Die Königin der Nach in Die Zauberflöte at Semperoper Dresden, The Metropolitan Opera, with the Cleveland Orchestra, and at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia. She will also perform in Houston this spring in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Peter Sellars’ Unsilent Spring, presented by DACAMERA. 

Last season included 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, which she had previously performed at Toledo Opera and Opera Carolina. Recent seasons’ leading roles 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.” 

With an impressive history of leading female roles in her career, 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). In summer 2019, she returned to Salzburg in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Orphée aux Enfers, “ravishingly” (Bachtrack) singing the “the raunchy, full-throttle” (Financial Times) role of Eurydice, stunning critics and audiences alike for her versatility as a performer and prompting Operawire to designate her as their Artist of the Week – as well as earning her a five-page feature in Salzburg’s official festival magazine. Orphée aux Enfers was released worldwide in 2020 by Naxos on the UNITEL Edition label and was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards. The Blu-ray DVD of Ariodante was released Worldwide by Naxos in May of 2021, also on the UNITEL Edition label. 

Recent recordings of Lewek’s work have also been commended. Lewek’s latest album, Handel: Apollo e Dafne & Armida abbandonata (Pentatone/Naxos – 2021), was released worldwide in February of 2022 with critics praising her “technical, affective and dramatic prima donna power” which she “wields […] majestically”; “The effect is spellbinding” (BBC Magazine). 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. 

Additional engagements have included Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City; her role début as Violetta in La Traviata at Toledo Opera; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia; 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. 

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 various repertoires, as well as with her husband, tenor Zach Borichevsky. Most recently, in response to the global food crisis exacerbated by the Russian-Ukrainian war, Lewek and Borichevsky streamed a special benefit concert, “Food of Love,” in October 2022. The two successfully generated $2,500 in donations, all of which were donated to the United Nations World Food Program.

Additionally, Lewek has enjoyed appearances at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, in the Stern Auditorium/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 was a double prize winner at the 2013 Operalia World Opera Competition including the highly competitive Audience Favorite Award. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. Currently, she resides in Connecticut with her husband and their two children.