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The American mezzo-soprano, choral conductor and voice teacher, Katherine McKee, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s degree with honors in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied choral conducting with Lorna Cooke deVaron and voice with Bernard Barbeau. She is a student of Sylvia Anderson.
Katherine McKee is active as a soloist both in concert work and on the opera stage throughout the Bay Area. Much in demand as an oratorio soloist, she has performed with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas McGegan, American Bach Soloists under the baton of Jeffrey Thomas, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, Emil de Cou, and Vance George, as well as in performances with the San Francisco Choral Society, Oakland Symphony Chorus, Camerata Singers of Monterey, St. Luke's Oratorio Choir, San Francisco Lyric Chorale, U. C. Davis Chorus & Orchestra, Sanford Dole Ensemble, Modesto Symphony, Soli Deo Gloria, , Marin Oratorio, and Sacred & Profane. A former member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the American Bach Soloists, she has been a core member of the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale since its founding in 1995, and sings frequently with the San Francisco Opera Chorus. During the summers of 2000 and 2003 she was a featured soloist with the San Francisco Boy's Chorus on two week tours of Europe under the direction of Ian Robertson.
Opera credits include performances with Berkeley Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Spellbound Productions and the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute in such roles as Azucena in Il Trovatore, the title role in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Principessa in Suor Angelica, and Madame Flora in The Medium. A devoted recitalist, she has presented recitals at The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Music at St. Matthew's, Pacifica Performances, Capp Street Community Music Center, Holy Innocents', St. Luke's, St. David of Wales and First Presbyterian Church in Alameda. She sings regularly with the San Francisco Opera Chorus, American Bach Soloists' American Bach Choir, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's Chorale, and San Francisco Renaissance Voices, serving the latter organization as assistant conductor as well.
Katherine McKee and has directed choirs, community orchestras and operas, and school groups since her college years. In the Boston area she directed the children’s, youth and adult choirs at Hanscom Air Force Base’s Protestant Chapel, taught stringed instruments and conducted orchestras in the Somerset (Massachusetts) public schools and served as Assistant Conductor for the Jamaica Plain Symphony Orchestra. In New York she founded and directed the chamber group Premier, which focused on newly composed works for a cappella voices, and served as an Assistant Conductor for the Gregg Smith Singers and at St. Bartholomew’s Church.
In the San Francisco Bay Area Katherine McKee has served on the conducting faculty of the San Francisco Boys Chorus, as Chorus Master, Prompter and Music Director for San Francisco Lyric Opera, and as Music Director of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church in Noe Valley and the First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto. She is also the recently-appointed Music Director for St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Menlo Park (Calfornia). Since 2007, she has served as the Assistant Music Director and Alto Section Lead of San Francisco Renaissance Voices and has been the resident conductor for the group’s annual Boar’s Head Festival & Mid-Winter Gala. In June 2014, San Francisco Renaissance Voices is pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine McKee as Music Director effective the 2014-2015 season. She replaced Todd Jolly, who has led the group as Music Director since its founding in 2004. San Francisco Renaissance Voices is a San Francisco Bay Area’s professional mixed-voice a cappella vocal ensemble dedicated to the music of the Renaissance and related periods.
Katherine McKee teaches private vocal students who perform throughout the Bay Area including members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Opera Chorus, San Francisco Choral Society, Woodminster Theater and the Lamplighters Music Theatre. |
