Dr. Katherine Jolly is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music. She was an Assistant Professor of Music at Saint Louis University in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Fine and Performing Arts from 2015-2017. In 2017 she was a finalist for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has also taught for Opera Theater Saint Louis’s Spring Training Program, Union Avenue Opera’s Crescendo Training Program, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, Randolph College, Sacramento State University, and Mary Baldwin College. She is a frequent adjudicator for NATS competitions, and was a 2017 NATS Intern in Toronto. Dr. Jolly received the Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music in 2015, where she taught private voice and classroom voice. Jolly also received the Master of Music degree from CCM in 2001, as an Albert Yates Scholar. The soprano graduated summa cum laude from Boston University College of Fine Arts in 1999, where she received the Ellalou Dimmock Vocal Excellence Award.
About the Teacher
Dr. Jolly has presented workshops on yoga, singing, and performance anxiety, at conferences including The Voice Foundation, The College Music Society and the National Association of Teachers for Singing. Recent singing engagements in 2017 included the African American Art Song Alliance Conference, Opera Theater Saint Louis, Chamber Project Saint Louis, The Bach Society of St. Louis, and Union Avenue Opera. Upcoming engagements in 2018 include recitals in Indiana, Tennessee and performance with Chamber Project Saint Louis.
The soprano was in residency at SongFest in 2016, where she performed works by Previn, Strauss, Debussy, Libby Larsen, and Ned Rorem. She has appeared in principle roles with companies including New York City Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Houston Grand Operaco., Opera Theater Saint Louis, Virginia Opera, and Union Avenue Opera Theater. Concert engagements have included the Phoenix Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, Sacramento Choral Society, Musica Sacra, Sinfonia Gulf Coast and more.
Jolly was a winner of the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Grand Council Auditions and has received awards from the George London Foundation, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, and the McAllister Foundation among others. Jolly is known for “her agile, bright lyric soprano voice” (New York Times), and her “tender and expressive soprano” (operaworld.com). Video and audio excerpts are available on katherinejollysoprano.com. Dr. Jolly is a member of AGMA, AFTRA-SAG, National Association of Teachers of Singing, The Voice Foundation, the Performing Arts Medicine Association, and the College Music Society.
Dr. Jolly works with singers recovering from voice injuries or conditions that have created muscular tensions and fatigue such as laryngopharyngeal reflux, allergies, and other health issues. She has worked with students, in conjunction with speech and language pathologists, Dr. Wendy LeBorgne and Erin Donahue, at the Professional Voice Center of Cincinnati, and with Otolaryngologist Dr. John Eisenbeis, and SLP Michelle Payne at Saint Louis University.