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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 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 teaching voice 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 taught 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, collaborating with Dr. Paula Nelson, flutist, and Diane
Legnini, cembalo player.
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.
Dr. Chilcote maintains a large private voice studio in West
Chester, Pennsylvania, where she specializes in teaching
high voices, particularly sopranos. Her professional students
include Jennifer Graf, coloratura soprano, of Hellertown,
Pennsylvania; Sarah Bennett, soprano,
and Jessica Lennick, soprano, both of Baltimore, Maryland. |
