“Kathleen Roland…displayed a beautifully dark-hued timbre and stylish acting.”
-Opera News
“Messiaen’s quartet was introduced by three songs from his “Poemes Pour Mi”… Blissful Messiaen and bitter, fatalistic Shostakovich were temperamentally opposite, and the contrast with the Russian songs, magnificently sung with power and great depths of emotion by Roland, was striking.”
-Los Angeles Times
Look for Kathleen’s upcoming anthology of Swedish art song, which will include composer and poet information, phonetic and word for word translations, and selections from some of Sweden’s greatest composers of 19th and 20th century romanser, or art song.
Read my article, “Romancing the Romanser: Exploring the Art Song of Sweden”, in the November issue of The Journal of Singing, the official journal of the National Association of the Teachers of Singing. Romancing the Romanser: Exploring the Art Song of Sweden
Upcoming concerts:
Jacaranda-Music on the Edge concert series, January 2012
Boston Court, October 2012
University of Santa Barbara, May 2012
Southwest Chamber Music, May 2012
and in Stockholm, Sweden!
Kathleen Roland is a highly regarded concert soloist well known for her interpretation of the music of the 20th and 21st century. She has been a featured singer with many music festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Britten-Pears Institute and the Tanglewood Music Festival, and has performed with many prominent conductors, including James Conlon, Kent Nagano, Reinbert de Leeuw, James Mauceri, and Oliver Knussen. Dr. Roland has been a frequent soloist with the Grammy award-winning Southwest Chamber Music Society of Los Angeles, with whom she has garnered critical acclaim for her performances. Recordings include a CD created with American composer Libby Larsen of her song cycle, Songs from Letters, from Calamity Jane to her daughter Janey, and Aura, for orchestra and soloists by Grawemeyer award-winning Cambodian composer Chinary Ung. International appearances include a tour with Southwest Chamber Music in Southeast Asia, featuring the music of Chinary Ung, and at the Tonhalle in Dusseldorf with conductor Robert Platz and mdi ensemble milano. Recent performances include the premiere of Chinary Ung’s Spirals XII with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall, and as soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Los Angeles Korean Philharmonic. In 2011-12, the soprano will reprise Ung’s Aura with the celebrated Jacaranda concert series, and will premiere a new work by American composer Charles Wuorinen with the Southwest Chamber Music Society.
Her 2007 Fulbright award and a 2003 American-Scandinavian Foundation grant have made possible continued research on the vocal music of Sweden, as well as performances and master classes of American art song in Sweden. As a result of this research, her anthology of Swedish art song for English-speaking singers is due to be published in 2012. Roland has been an lecture recital presenter for NATS, the College Music Society and in 2009, was an invited presenter at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Paris, where she presented her research on the ground-breaking 21st century Swedish opera, Marie Antoinette, och hennes kärlek till Axel von Fersen. She holds a doctorate in voice from the University of Southern California, serves on the board of the National Opera Association, and is editor of the organization’s newsletter, NOA Notes. Dr. Roland holds joint appointments at the University of California Santa Barbara, the University of Southern California and Pepperdine University.