Kathleen Battle

At 76 years old, Kathleen Battle has this physical status:

Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948) is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone.

Battle, a native of Portsmouth, Ohio, first became known for her performances with major orchestras in the early and mid-1970s.

In 1975, she made her opera debut.

Battle transformed her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994.

Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016, marking a 22-year absence from the Met.

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Life and career

Battle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, United States, with the youngest of seven children in the world. Her father, a steelworker, was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and her mother, a strong participant in the family's African Methodist Episcopal church, was a vocal participant in the gospel music. Battle was fought at Portsmouth High School, where her music teacher and mentor, Charles P. Varney, was a student. (Phil) Varney was a student at the Portsmouth High School. Varney recalled the first time he heard the eight-year-old Battle sing, describing her as "this tiny little thing singing so beautifully." "I went to her later," Varney recalled, "and told her God had blessed her, and she must always sing." In the same interview, music critic Michael Walsh described Battle as "the best lyric coloratura in the world."

Battle received a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music, where she trained with Franklin Bens and then worked with Italo Tajo. She majored in music education and then went on to a master's degree in Music Education. She began teaching 5th and 6th grade music at an inner-city public school in Cincinnati in 1971 and continued to study voice privately while teaching 5th and 6th grade music. She began singing with Daniel Ferro in New York later this year.

A friend and fellow church choir member called her and told her that conductor Thomas Schippers was hosting auditions in Cincinnati in 1972, her second year as a teacher. In Brahms' German Requiem at the 1972 Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, the soprano soloist was recruited at her audition by Schippers. Her appearance on July 9, 1972, was the beginning of her professional career. Battle will perform in a number of more orchestral concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland over the next three years. In 1973, she was given a grant from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music to finance her education. The jury of judges selected William Mullen, the Santa Fe Concert Association's managing director, was on the jury that made the award.

In 2004 he recalled:

Thomas Schippers introduced Kathleen Battle to his colleague James Levine, who had chosen Battle to perform in Mahler's Symphony No. 1s. In 1974, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's May Festival was May 8. This was the start of a 20-year friendship and close professional relationship between Battle and Levine that culminated in numerous recordings and concerts in recital and concert performances, including engagements in Salzburg, Ravinia, and Carnegie Hall. Battle made her professional operatic debut in 1975 as Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit. Susanna was born in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1988, and she appeared in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and her debut in Wagner's Tannhäuser in 1978. James Levine conducted the second performance. Battle performed in Haydn's La fedeltà premiata in 1979, marking her debut (and UK debut) on the Glyndebourne Festival.

Battle appeared in recitals, choral works, and opera throughout the 1980s. Her performances continued to take her to international staged. Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, 1980 she made her Zürich debut as Adina. She made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1982 in Cos fan tutte, followed by an appearance in one of the festival's Mozart Matinee concerts three days later. She was the soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, conducted by Herbert von Karajan in 1985. In Ariadne on Naxos, she made her Royal Opera debut as Zerbinetta that year. For the Vienna New Year's Day concert, Karajan invited Battle to perform Johann Strauss' Voices of Spring. She appeared in operas, including Oscar at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a highly acclaimed Semele at Carnegie Hall. Susanna, Zerlina, and Despina, Mozart roles, and she appeared in several other opera companies during the time. Battle began performing more than 150 appearances with the company, including the Met's debut of Handel's Giulio Cesare. San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Vienna State Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin are among the opera companies where she appeared.

She received three Grammy awards for her performances during this period: Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart (1986), Salzburg Recital (1987), and Ariadne on Naxos (1987). Battle's 1986 collaboration with guitarist Christopher Parkening called Pleasures of Their Company was nominated for the Classical Album of the Year Grammy award. She received the Laurence Olivier Award (1985) for her appearance as Zerbinetta in Ariadne on Naxos at the Royal Opera House in London. Critical reactions to Battle's appearances had never changed in the years since she debuted. Time Magazine named her "the best lyric coloratura soprano in the world" in 1985.

Projects ranging from a concert band and a CD dedicated to spirituals to a collection of baroque music, from complete opera performances to recitals and recordings of jazz musicians appeared in the 1990s.

Battle and Jessye Norman conducted a program of spirituals at Carnegie Hall in 1990, with James Levine as the primary conductor. In the same year, she returned to Covent Garden to perform Norina in Don Pasquale and appeared in a number of solo recitals in California, as well as appearing at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Hollywood Bowl. Battle's first solo recital appearance at Carnegie Hall took place on April 27, 1991 as part of the Centennial Festival. Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and Richard Strauss performed arias and songs by pianist Margo Garrett, as well as other classical spirituals. Marian Anderson, the contralto, had ended her tour with a recital at Carnegie Hall in April 1965, was in the audience that night, and Battle dedicated Rachmaninoff's "In the Silence of the Secret Night" to her. Battle's fourth Grammy Award was won on the recording of the performance. The first appearance of André Previn's song cycle Honey and Rue, with lyrics by Toni Morrison appeared in January 1992. Carnegie Hall commissioned the work, which was specifically designed for Battle.

Handel, Haydn, and Duke Ellington's music was joined by Martin Katz and Kenny Barron on piano, and Grady Tate (drums), Grover Washington Jr. (bass), and David Williams (bass) at Carnegie Hall in December 1993. During this time, she performed with others, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, on an album of Bach arias; violinist Itzhak Perlman on an album of Bach arias; and flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal for a recital at Alice Tully Hall (also available on CD). With the introduction of Janet Jackson's album Janet, Battle added pop music to her repertoire in May 1993, lending her vocals to the song "This Time." First Love, a collection of Japanese melodies, was released in 1989.

She appeared in a number of Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti operas on the opera stage. Pamina in The Barber of Seville (1990 and 1993), and Adina in L'elisir d'amore (1991, 1992), 1990-1991, 1994 (Met's 1993 Japan Tour), She appeared in many productions at the Metropolitan Opera: Rosina (1991 and 1993). She also received her fifth Grammy Award in 1993, as Semele's title role on John Nelson's Deutsche Grammophon album.

Although Battle gave several critically acclaimed performances at the Metropolitan Opera in the early 1990s, her company's leadership showed increasing signs of strain throughout those years. As Battle's fame grew, so did her reputation for being both demanding and demanding. She allegedly barred an assistant conductor and other musicians from her performances in October 1992, changed hotels several times, and left behind what a Boston Globe article titled "a froth of ill will." Battle was accused of "withering criticism" during rehearsals for a new production of La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera in February 1994 and "mostly terrified demands that they not look at her." Battle was dismissed from the production due to "unprofessional conduct" during rehearsals, according to GM Joseph Volpe. Battle's behavior was "completely detrimental to the artistic collaboration of all the cast members," Volpe said, and he had "canceled all offers that have been made for the future." Any thoughts from Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine, Battle's close friend and collaborator for 20 years, have been shrouded in secrecy. Harolyn Blackwell replaced Battle in Donizetti's La fille du régiment. "The cast of The Daughter of the Regiment erupted when it was told during rehearsal that Battle had been called off," Michael Walsh of Time magazine said. Many backstage employees wore T-shirts that read: "I survived the Battle." After she performed with the San Francisco Opera at this time.

"I was not told by anyone at the Met about any unprofessional conduct," Battle said in a statement released by her management company. To my knowledge, we were addressing all of the rehearsal's artistic difficulties, and I don't know the reason for this unexpected dismissal. I'm sorry for this decision," I can say. Battle hasn't appeared in opera since then.

She appeared onstage and in concert for the remainder of the decade. She appeared on the album Tenderness in May 1994, singing a duet "My Favorite Things" with Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Al Jarreau. Baritone Thomas Hampson, conductor John Nelson, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's presented an opera arias and famous songs at Lincoln Center in 1995. So Many Stars, a series of folk songs, lullabies, and spirituals, was released in 1995 by Donna McBride and Grover Washington Jr. (with accompanying live concert performances) with Christian McBride and Grover Washington Jr. (with whom she had appeared in Carnegie Hall the previous year); and Angels' Glory, a Christmas collection with guitarist Christopher Parkening, a regular collaborator. The albums Mozart Opera Arias and Grace, a collection of sacred songs, was released in 1997. In October 1998, she appeared on her album Gershwin's World, a recitation of Gershwin's Prelude in C minor. Fantasia 2000, on which she is the featured soprano in Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches conducted by long-time collaborator James Levine, was released in December 1999. She appeared in solo recitals in Los Angeles, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago, among other cities, where art songs from a variety of eras and regions, opera arias, and spirituals were showcased in solo recitals.

A variety of projects have been ongoing, including composers who are not familiar with classical music, performing Vangelis, Stevie Wonder, and George Gershwin's works.

She was an all-Schubert student at Ravinia in August 2000. She and her frequent collaborator Soprano Jessye Norman performed Vangelis' Mythodea at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, Greece, in June 2001. Denyce Graves and Bobby McFerrin performed at the Ravinia Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gala in July 2003. In 2006, she and James Ingram performed They Won't Go Where I Go in a Tribute to Stevie Wonder, and she began including Wonder's songs in her recitals. She appeared at the Aspen Music Festival in July 2007 as part of a season scholarship. Miss Sarajevo, written by U2's Bono, was performed by Kathleen Battle and Alicia Keys during a fundraiser for the Keep a Child Alive Charity in October 2007.

On the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI's papal visit to the White House, she conducted an arrangement of the Lord's Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI on April 16, 2008. This will be her second time she has performed for a pope. (She appeared in Mozart's Coronation Mass as a soprano soloist in 1985). Alicia Keys and Queen Latifah performed "Superwoman" on the American Music Awards later this year. Since that time, she has appeared in occasional piano-voice recitals in Costa Mesa, California, including a recital by Schubert, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff, as well as Joel A. Martin (April 2013).

Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Met in November 2016, following a 22-year absence from the Metropolitan Opera House.

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Awards and honors

• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart, 1986.
• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Salzburg Recital, 1987.
• Grammy, Best Opera Recording for Richard Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos, 1987.
• Laurence Olivier Award, Best Performance in a New Opera Production for Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Royal Opera, London, 1985.
• Grammy, Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall (Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Strauss, etc.), 1992.
• Emmy, Outstanding Individual Achievement – Classical Music/Dance Programming – Performance for the Metropolitan Opera Silver Anniversary Gala, 1992.
• Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, 1992.
• Grammy, Best Opera Recording for Handel: Semele, 1993.
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 1993.
• 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.
• NAACP Image Award – Hall of Fame Award, 1999.