Kim Lauritsen, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Kimberly Lauritsen, known for her rich tone and excellent diction, is an active performer in the Great Lakes music scene, appearing most recently as Alto soloist with The Blue Water Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Choir in the debut of Sam Guarnaccia's eagerly anticipated Oratorio: Emergent Universe. Ms. Lauritsen made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in 2006 in Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien under the baton of Matthias Pintscher. Since then she has appeared at Severance Hall and Blossom several times, and has also performed solos with Akron Symphony, Cleveland Chamber Choir, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Ashland Symphony, PAND, Classical Revolution, the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Musica Antiqua, Dulces Voces, Abendmusik, the Omaha Chamber Singers, and the Cleveland Art Song Festival. She has performed lead roles with Solon Center for the Arts, Opera per tutti, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Opera Cleveland on Tour, CIM Opera Theater, the Janiec Opera Company, and UNL's Opera Theater. A champion of new music, Ms. Lauritsen debuted roles in Jim Harris and Mark Hayes' new musical Civil War Voices, Monica Houghton's opera The Big Bonanza, and Randall Eng's opera Florida. Ms. Lauritsen is Adjunct Professor of Voice at The University of Akron, Head of the Voice Department at The Music Settlement in Cleveland, Music Director of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Shaker Heights, and founding director of Sistema Orchestra Shaker at Lomond Elementary. She is the recipient of the Boris Goldovsky Prize in Opera, the Milhaud Society prize, the Vassos Prize in Art Song, and a Special Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Guild.