Roche Guest Artists Series: Katherine Jolly, Soprano, Erika Switzer, Piano

A bright, accomplished singer on the opera and concert stages, coloratura soprano Katherine Jolly has appeared in leading roles with Opera Theatre Saint Louis, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Virginia Opera, Amarillo Opera, Piedmont Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, American Lyric Theatre, and others. Her album Preach Sister Preach received airtime on radio stations across the world and garnered rave reviews in publications and on websites such as Gramophone, Review Graveyard, Take Effect, and others.

Most recently, Jolly released her album No Ordinary Woman, a deeply personal collection of art songs reflecting on lived experience, womanhood, and voice. Featuring works by composers including Gwyneth Walker and poetry by Lucille Clifton and Nikki Giovanni, the album marks Jolly’s first solo release in seven years and represents a culmination of her artistic journey—honoring the past while standing fully in the present.

In the concert arena, she has performed recently in a world premiere, Immigrant Stories, with Imani Winds; Honey and Rue, with Virginia Symphony; an Americana Concert, with Cincinnati Song Initiative; three concerts, with the Orgue en Fété festival in Bergerac; a world premiere, Absent An Adjustment, with Chamber Project STL; and in Handel’s The Messiah, with the Evansville Philharmonic, the Richmond Symphony, and the Phoenix Symphony. Jolly was featured with the Phoenix Symphony in staged performances of Brundibar, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, with Sinfonia Gulf Coast; Carmina Burana, with Northwest Florida Symphony; and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, the Fauré Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria, with the Sacramento Choral Arts Society. She is a frequent collaborator with the esteemed baroque Kingsbury Ensemble and appears in recitals with arts organizations throughout the nation.

Of her recent performances of Honey and Rue, with the Virginia Symphony, the Virginia Gazette wrote, “The six songs, carefully crafted to reflect the emotional lyrics through jazz, blues, and spiritual idioms, were exquisitely sung by soprano Katherine Jolly. An acclaimed young singer who has made a significant impact on opera and concert stages across the country, she sounded much like Battle in her prime with a crystalline, pure, and focused voice. She imbued each with gestures appropriate to the pain, longing, suffering, and hope found within, from the bluesy “The Town is Lit” and stunning a cappella spiritually-toned “Do You Know Him?” to the final, touching “Take My Mother Home.”

Operaworld.com reviewed a world premiere of New Arrival  at Houston Grand Opera, “Katherine Jolly, also making her HGO debut, employed tender and expressive soprano vocals to make her portrayal of Iris poignant and unforgettable.” Following her debut performances in Cendrillon at New York City Opera, Variety wrote, “As the Fairy Godmother, coloratura soprano Katherine Jolly delights with her endlessly flowing trills, runs, and roulades.”

A winner of the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals, the New York Times mentioned, “Katherine Jolly used her agile, bright lyric soprano to superb effect in showpieces from Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail and Ariadne auf Naxos." Ms. Jolly returned to the Met to workshop An Enchanted Island  and was featured with City Opera’s VOX series for new operas, in Acquanetta and Josephine, broadcast on NPR. In addition to the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award, she has been the recipient of awards from organizations including the George London Foundation, Opera Theatre Saint Louis, the McAllister Foundation, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

More information can be found at: katherinejollysoprano.com. Dr. Jolly is currently an associate professor of voice at Oberlin Conservatory, where she received the Excellence in Teaching Award for 2020-21.

Erika Switzer is an accomplished collaborative pianist who performs regularly in major concert settings around the world, including at New York’s Weill Hall (Carnegie), Geffen Hall, Frick Collection, Bargemusic, the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC). Her performances have been called “precise and lucid” by the New York Times, and Renaud Machart of Le Monde described her as “one of the best collaborative pianists I have ever heard; her sound is deep, her interpretation intelligent, refined, and captivating.”

From 2000-07, Switzer performed and studied in Germany, an experience that profoundly inspired and shaped her work. During that time, she appeared at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and in the Munich Winners & Masters series and won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions.

Switzer has long been a leader in envisioning and promoting the future of art song performance. In 2009, in collaboration with soprano Martha Guth, she founded the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, which commissions new works, presents sparksLIVE events in New York City, and publishes The Art Song Magazine. She is also devoted to new music and has recently premiered new compositions at the 5 Boroughs Music Festival, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Vancouver’s Music on Main.

Switzer collaborates with a range of top singers. A frequent collaborator is baritone Tyler Duncan, and as a duo, Switzer and Duncan have performed in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. She is also an active teacher, serving on the music faculty at Bard College and Conservatory of Music. Switzer holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School and lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.