Mezzo-soprano KATHRYN LEEMHUIS (Paquette) recently completed her time as a young artist in the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the 2009 / 2010 season at Lyric Opera, she performed the roles of Giovanna in Verdi’s Ernani and Glasa in Janácek’s Kátya Kabanová, and covered the roles of Marguerite in Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust, Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Siebel in Gounod’s Faust, and Varvara in Janácek’s Kátya Kabanová. Upcoming engagements find Leemhuis performing the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and the role of Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Opera Theatre St. Louis, and performing in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation’s Winners of the 2010 International Vocal Competition Concert in New York City this fall.

Leemhuis recently performed Amaltea in Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto at the Chicago Opera Theater, the role of Paquette in John Mauceri’s vocal suite arrangement from Bernstein’s Candide at the Ravinia Festival, the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, was the alto soloist in the Grant Park Music Festival at Millennium Park in Beethoven’s Mass in C major, and was a young artist in Ravinia’s Steans Institute. Leemhuis also performed Dorabella at the Tanglewood Music Center in Mozart’s Così fan tutte under James Levine and Flora in Verdi’s La traviata at Opera Colorado under Stephen Lord. At Carnegie Hall in New York City, Leemhuis was a soloist in the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s The Song Continues Festival.

Among Leemhuis’ other operatic roles are Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia; Tulip in Bolcom’s A Wedding; Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel; Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring.

Leemhuis was a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis for three years, a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow for two years, and has performed in the Carmel Bach Festival. In 2007, Leemhuis performed as a soloist on the Artist Recital Series at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis. She is the recent first-place winner in the American Opera Society of Chicago competition; first-place winner of the Union Civic and Arts Foundation Competition; first- and second-place winner in the Musicians Club of Women competition; first-place winner in the Irma Cooper Opera Columbus International Vocal Competition (in both the Junior and Senior divisions); second-place winner of the Fort Worth Opera McCammon Vocal Competition; third-place winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation’s International Vocal Competition; first-place winner of the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition; third-place winner in the Senior Division of the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition; and second-place winner of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions, Kentucky Region.

Kathryn Leemhuis completed her Master of Music degree in vocal performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Costanza Cuccaro. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Lorraine Manz. She is a native of Columbus, Ohio.