Praised worldwide for her captivating and affecting portrayals in genres ranging from opera to musical theater, jazz, and pop, American soprano Katherine Henly has performed with Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, The Muscat Royal Opera House, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Charlottesville Opera, Virginia Opera, The New York Musical Theatre Festival, The New York International Fringe Festival, and The O’Neill National Music Theater Conference. For her eleventh-hour debut with Oper Köln in Street Scene, Resmusica raved “Finally, in Sam Kaplan and Rose Maurrant, we discover two of the most promising American singers... Radiant physically and vocally, very moving also in the farewell scene, Katherine Henly, is not to be outdone in that of her beloved-a performance all the more impressive under the circumstances. The very young American soprano, passing through Cologne, had indeed replaced in the last minute a suffering colleague during several rehearsals without having yet sung the role on stage before. The Cologne Opera thanked her with a performance that marked both her European debut and her acting debut. A career definitely to follow.”
Last season, Ms. Henly debuted the role of Musetta in Peter Rothstein’s critically acclaimed production of La bohème with Theater Latté Da in Minneapolis and returned to Charlottesville Opera as Valencienne in The Merry Widow. This season, Katherine will perform the role of Clorinda in Opera Maine’s production of La Cenerentola and can be seen in concert with Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra.
Recent seasons saw her debut as Clorinda in Rossini's La cenerentola, conducted by Gavriel Heine for the Northern Lights Music Festival and performances as a soloist in Preludes: Lyrics & Lyricists, a five-part online series filmed on the historic stage of the 92nd Street Y. Additional recent performances include the world premiere of Maria Thomson Corley’s The Sky Where You Are commissioned by An Opera Theatre and streaming online as a part of Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales From A Safe Distance; and as a soloist in Glad Jul, a holiday concert produced by Motarbeider, theStøttet av Kulturrådet Norsk kulturfund, and the Nord-Odal Kommune, filmed in the historic Sand Kirke in Nord-Odal, Norway, December of 2020. She made her off-Broadway debut as Elsa in Sheldon Harnick’s musical Dragons at The York Theatre Company, and can be heard on the studio recording with Tony Award-winner MichaelCerveris. Ms. Henly has also seen solo performances with Utah Lyric Opera, Utah Valley Symphony Orchestra, Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, The Ramsey Wind Symphony, Palisades Virtuosi, Worcester Symphony Orchestra, Camerata New York, and in concert at Mechanics Hall and Carnegie Hall.
Ms. Henly has completed Young Artist residencies with Utah Festival Opera, Charlottesville Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival. She is a graduate of Ithaca College (B.M.) and Brigham Young University (M.M.)