Dr. Kathryn Chilcote, Voice Teacher:
Singing Lessons and Vocal Instruction in Pennsylvania
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Maurizio
e Caterina: A Love Story
"tu
sei il mio unico amore, per sempre" (you
are my only love, forever)
Great loves live on throughout time despite
separation and death. In her new novel, Kathryn
Chilcote presents a woman's search for the
man she left behind decades ago.
Read more about "Maurizio e Caterina." |
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Kathryn Chilcote, soprano
is a native of the Pacific Northwest, having been born in Klamath
Falls, Oregon. She studied voice with voice teacher Carrie
Richardson (now of Olympia, Washington) while in high school.
She holds both a Bachelor and a Master of Music degree in
Vocal Performance from the Conservatory of Music, University
of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, where she was a
student of Dickson Titus, baritone. Upon Prof. Titus' recommendation,
Kathryn auditioned and was accepted into the summer opera
training program at l'Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena,
Italy, in the summer of 1970. Minutes after her audition,
she emerged to meet Florentine tenor Maurizio Frusoni, who
is the basis of the character "Maurizio Lorenzini"
in Kathryn's autobiographical novel, entitled Maurizio
e Caterina: A Love Story.
Circumstances made it necessary for Kathryn, or Caterina, as
Maurizio called her, to return to the United States, after
a period of time where she called Florence, or Firenze, home.
She based herself in San Francisco, where she began a career
singing in regional opera theatres on the West Coast and studied
voice with Kathryn de Haven. During this time Kathryn also
began working as a voice teacher in the greater San Francisco
Bay area, including the Burlingame Conservatory, the College
of Notre Dame (in San Mateo County), and as an adjunct at the
Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, in Stockton,
California, where she had earned two degrees. While sharing
a studio at UOP with Prof. George Buckbee, formerly of the
Finnish and Norwegian Operas, he invited her to participate
in a summer program in Bayreuth, Germany, where he directed
and conducted a performance of Malcolm Williamson's contemporary
opera entitled "The Growing Castle." Upon her return
to the US, Kathryn began an intensive study of the German language,
and began extensive travel between Germany and the West Coast
of the United States in the next few years. She participated
in the summer apprenticeship program in Graz, Austria, at the
American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in 1977, where
she studied voice with Marianne Weltmann, coloratura soprano
(now of Seattle, Washington).
In 1980 Kathryn relocated to Hannover, Germany, where she sang
and gave singing lessons until she returned to the US, in 1984.
Upon completion of course work for the degree of Doctor of
Musical Arts at the School of Music, the University of Oregon,
in Eugene, she accepted a position as the Director of Opera
at a university in Mississippi. A year later, she accepted
a similar position at a university in Southeastern Pennsylvania,
where she has taught since 1989. Dr. Chilcote completed her
doctorate in 1991 and was promoted to Associate Professor in
1997.
Dr. Chilcote is an active recitalist, and has performed extensively
on the West Coast and in the Northeastern part of the US, in
addition to European cities such as Toulouse, France, Bayreuth
and Hannover Germany, and Florence, Italy as well as Moscow,
Russia. She was featured as a soloist with the San Francisco
Bach Choir when she was a Bay Area resident, and has continued
her love of singing Bach to the present day. She produces and
performs in a yearly chamber music concert featuring the secular
and sacred solo cantatas of Baroque composer J. S. Bach.
Along with her early music, Dr. Chilcote also is a noted German Lieder and
French mélodies singer, collaborating often
with pianist Richard Gangwisch. She has also participated in
duet opera recitals with colleagues from various universities,
including tenor Martin Dillon of the Rutgers-Camden University
campus, as well as baritone Dale Morehouse, of the University
of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music. In November
of 2005, Dr. Chilcote, Prof. Morehouse, and pianist Brian Marble
presented a concert in Florence, Italy, as part of the Concerto
Classico Series, in memory of Maestro Maurizio Frusoni
who passed away in 2000. Maurizio's son, Marco, a tenor like
his father, came up from Rome to participate also in the concert.
In March of 2007, Dr. Chilcote was featured as a soloist with
the Paradise Symphony, in Paradise, CA, under the direction
of Maestro Lloyd Roby, singing arias by Puccini and Verdi.
She joined baritone James Gentry and Maestro George Buckbee
(conductor and pianist) in a series of five reunion concerts
throughout Finland in January of 2009, with a focus on American
and Italian art song and operatic excerpts.
Voice Teacher - Singing Lessons and Vocal Instruction
Dr. Chilcote maintains a large private voice studio in West
Chester, Pennsylvania, where she specializes in teaching high
voices, particularly sopranos. She accompanies her students
on piano for every voice lesson. Her professional students
include Sarah Bennett, soprano, of Maryland; Jessica
Lennick,
soprano, of Philadelphia; and Alayna
Rakes, soprano, of Philadelphia, PA.
Dr. Chilcote specializes in opera, operetta, wedding repertoire,
Broadway and musical theatre, art song, Disney music, folk
songs, and pop music. She offers the Italian bel canto approach
with a focus on the Italian appoggio breathing method. She
is always available for students of all ages and all levels. |
