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.