Music for New Bodies Cast Bios

Cast Bios Kathryn Lewek Soprano Kathryn Lewek has established herself as one of this generation’s most thrilling coloratura sopranos, performing some of the most vocally challenging roles in the repertoire and joining the top-ranking operatic performers of all time. Last season reached the remarkable milestone of Kathryn’s 50th performance of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) as Die Königin der Nacht (The Queen of the Night) at The Metropolitan Opera, which surpasses The Met's record for the most performances of a role by a single artist. The New York Times declared her performance “utterly enthralling, emitting richly glowing bursts of notes like a collapsing star.” Ms. Lewek’s interpretation of the quintessential Mozart villain has labeled her the reigning Queen of the Night, with productions of Die Zauberflöte at more than 25 companies in over 300 performances to date, including The Royal Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Festival d’Aix-enProvence, and The Royal Danish Opera, amongst others. Lewek's plush, buoyant, dramatic coloratura has received widespread acclaim on the global stage, pinning her as the soprano who "executes this stratospherically difficult role better than anyone alive” (The New Yorker). The upcoming 2023-2024 season will see Lewek in an array of brilliant roles. Two highly anticipated role débuts will include the title role of Lakmé at Opéra de Nice, followed by her portrayal of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera, alongside tenor Zach Borichevsky, Lewek’s husband, as Roméo. Additional performances include Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann at Semperoper Dresden; a debut as Madame Herz/Tonina in a pastiche of Der Schauspieldirektor with the Vienna Philharmonic; and Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Lewek will perform Die Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte with Semperoper Dresden, The Metropolitan Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra, and at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia. She will also perform in Houston this spring in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Peter Sellars' Unsilent Spring, presented by DACAMERA. Last season included role débuts of Countess Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann with Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as a reprisal of the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for Opéra de Nice, which she had previously performed at Toledo Opera and Opera Carolina. Recent seasons’ leading roles have also included Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini with Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Deutsche Oper Berlin and subsequently in her house début with the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich); a reprisal of her performance as Ginevra in Ariodante with Opera Monte Carlo; the title role of Maria Stuarda with Edmonton Opera; Angelica in Handel’s masterpiece Orlando on tour throughout Europe; and Jessica in the world première of André Tchaikowsky’s Kupiec Wenecki (The Merchant of Venice) with Bregenzer Festspiele. This production was awarded the International Opera Award 2014 in the category “Best World Première.” With an impressive history of leading female roles in her career, Lewek made an “especially brilliant” (Backtrack) début as Ginevra in Ariodante with the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele in Austria opposite Cecilia Bartoli, where Ms. Lewek “perform[ed] a miracle” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) and thrilled