KITTY WHATELY
MEZZO SOPRANO • WORLD MANAGEMENT
ABOUT
"Whately is a captivating live performer... In an age of glossily interchangeable international artists, this one isn't afraid to tell us her story. I, for one, want to hear more...” GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE
Kitty Whately is one of the UK’s most characterful mezzo sopranos of the operatic stage and concert platform, and a highly acclaimed interpreter particularly of contemporary opera and art song.
Following the recent success of her Royal Opera House debut as Michelle in the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s new opera Festen, Kitty’s 2025-26 season sees her sing Margret Wozzeck in a semi-staged performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Irene Tamerlano (London Handel Festival), and record Sullivan’s The Martyr of Antioch with the BBC Concert Orchestra. This season also sees the release of four solo recital discs championing women composers, including Horizons on Chandos Records—selected as BBC Radio 3’s Album of the Week—alongside the complete songs of Rebecca Clarke for Signum Records, a Vaughan Williams & His Circle album with pianist William Vann (Albion) , and a recording of Madeleine Dring songs with Julius Drake (Chandos) with recitals including a BBC Radio 3 lunchtime recital at LSO St Luke’s and a Rebecca Clarke Wigmore Hall Focus Day.
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She has performed leading roles in world and UK premieres of opera by Mark Anthony Turnage, Missy Mazzoli, Mark Adamo and Vasco Mandonça, alongside song cycles written especially for her by Jonathan Dove, Sally Beamish, Steven Hough, Juliana Hall and Tarik O’Regan. She has received critical acclaim for performances of opera by Benjamin Britten and Bernard Hermann, as well as a huge variety of roles from the core canon of classical opera.
Operatic highlights include creating the role of Mother/Other Mother in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Coraline, a Royal Opera House production staged at the Barbican, and performing Isabelle in Missy Mazzoli’s one-woman opera Song from the Uproar with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. At the Verbier Festival, she appeared as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. For the Aix-en-Provence Festival, she performed Ippolita / Pallade in Cavalli’s Elena (also in Montpellier and Versailles), Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (including a tour to Beijing), and gave the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s The House Taken Over, directed by Katie Mitchell, in Aix-en-Provence, Antwerp, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Bruges, and Lisbon.
At The Grange Festival she sang the title role in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Nancy in Albert Herring, and Paquette in Candide (also for Bergen National Opera). For Grange Park Opera she performed Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and for Scottish Opera, her roles include Jocasta in Oedipus Rex at the Edinburgh International Festival, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Other engagements include Lyel in The Snow Maiden and Sesto in Giulio Cesare for English Touring Opera; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Stewardess in Flight, and Meg in the UK premiere of Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Opera Holland Park; and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opéra de Rouen in Robert Carsen’s production and with Bergen National Opera.
She has also sung Isabella in Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights and Kate in Owen Wingrave for Opera National de Lorraine (the latter also for Grange Park Opera), as well as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier for Garsington Opera. Additional appearances include Pallas in The Judgement of Paris (Cambridge Baroque Opera), and multiple roles—Dog, Forester’s Wife, Woodpecker, and Owl—in The Cunning Little Vixen with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, Paris, Hamburg, and Dortmund.
A former BBC New Generation Artist and winner of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award, Kitty Whately is in high demand as a recitalist and concert soloist. She has performed with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, and is a frequent guest with the BBC orchestras. Highlights include her BBC Proms debut in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Suite from Act II of Caroline Mathilde, De Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the BBC Philharmonic, and Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne with John Wilson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She has also recorded programmes of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Recent concert engagements include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Mizmorim Festival in Basel, The Dream of Gerontius with the Crouch End Festival Chorus at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the BBC Philharmonic, Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Symphony Orchestra of Chetham’s School of Music.
Kitty is a regular presence on the UK’s chamber music scene, performing in major recital venues with pianists including Simon Lepper, Joseph Middleton and Anna Tilbrook. A frequent guest on BBC Radio 3—both in concert and in recordings for Composer of the Week—she has released several acclaimed song discs, including three solo albums, and collaborations with artists such as Roderick Williams, Mary Bevan and Gareth Brynmor John. A passionate advocate for women composers, her latest release, Befreit: A Soul Surrendered with Joseph Middleton, features world premiere recordings of songs by Johanna Müller-Hermann and Margarete Schweikert. She is currently recording the complete vocal works of Rebecca Clarke with Anna Tilbrook and Nicholas Phan for Signum Records, and will later this year record a new album of French song for Chandos, including premiere recordings of works by Hedwige Chrétien and Marguerite Canal.
Kitty is the co-founder of the charity SWAP’ra (Supporting Women And Parents in Opera).
SCHEDULE 2025-26 SEASON
SPOTIFY
OPERA
SONG
CREATIVE PROJECTS
REPERTOIRE
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Mark Adamo
Meg, Little WomenLeonard Bernstein
Paquette, CandideAlban Berg
Margret, WozzeckBenjamin Britten
Nancy, Albert Herring
Hermia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Kate, Owen WingraveFrancesco Cavalli
Ippolita / Pallade, ElenaJohn Eccles (attrib.)
Pallas, The Judgement of ParisJonathan Dove
Stewardess, FlightGeorge Frideric Handel
Irene, Tamerlano
Sesto, Giulio CesareBernard Herrmann
Isabella, Wuthering HeightsEngelbert Humperdinck
Hansel, Hansel and GretelLeoš Janáček
Dog, Forester’s Wife, Woodpecker, Owl — The Cunning Little VixenMissy Mazzoli
Isabelle, Song from the UproarClaudio Monteverdi
Poppea / Ottavia / Fortuna, L’incoronazione di PoppeaWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Marcellina / Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro
Dorabella, Così fan tutte
Donna Elvira, Don GiovanniGiacomo Puccini
Suzuki, Madama ButterflyNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Lyel, The Snow MaidenGioachino Rossini
Rosina, Il barbiere di SivigliaIgor Stravinsky
Jocasta, Oedipus RexRichard Strauss
Annina, Der RosenkavalierMark-Anthony Turnage
Michelle, Festen
Mother/Other Mother, CoralineRita Ueda Mendonça
Rosa, The House Taken OverOmar Shahryar
Annie, DisplacedRalph Vaughan Williams
Shining One / Cup Bearer / Pickthank / Woodcutter’s Boy, The Pilgrim’s ProgressThomas Weldon
Pallas, The Judgement of ParisArthur Sullivan
Peep-Bo, The Mikado -
Bach, Johann Sebastian
B Minor Mass
Magnificat
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Mass in C Major
Symphony No. 9
Canteloube
Songs of the Auvergne
Davies, Peter Maxwell
Suite from Act II of Caroline Mathilde
Duruflé, Maurice
Requiem
Elgar, Edward
The Dream of Gerontius
The Kingdom
The Apostles
Falla, Manuel de
The Three-Cornered Hat
Fauré, Gabriel
La Bonne Chanson
Handel, George Frideric
Messiah
Haydn, Joseph
Nelson Mass
Mahler, Gustav
Das Lied von der Erde
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 8
Kindertotenlieder
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Requiem
Mass in C Minor
Ravel, Maurice
Shéhérazade
Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter
Song Selections
Sullivan, Arthur
The Light of the World
Vaughan Williams, Ralph
Serenade to Music
Four Last Songs
House of Life
DISCOGRAPHY
PRESS
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“Kitty Whately also shines as Suzuki, Butterfly’s maid.” The Guildford Dragon (June 2025)
“Butterfly’s maid Suzuki, finely portrayed with awkward, strenuous devotion by Kitty Whately.” The Telegraph (June 2025)
“Kitty Whately is a constantly worried Suzuki, often in the background. Whately brings this apprehension and concern into her vocals with skill and precision.” BroadwayWorld.com (June 2025)
"Kitty Whately’s faithful maid Suzuki packs a world of emotion into her watchful presence" The iPaper (June 2025)
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“It helps enormously that the cast for this ensemble piece is so uniformly superb, projecting the words with such clarity and vehemence that surtitles are all but redundant.” 5***** The Guardian (February 2025)
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"With her accomplished mezzo-soprano, Kitty Whately is a class act as Lel as she suggests a man who not only possesses great charm, but who relishes the fact as he delivers his songs." Music OMH (October 2024)
"Standouts include... Whately’s vividly sung live wire, Lel." The Stage (October 2024)
"However, it was Whately’s Lel who captured musical hearts, just as she/he cheekily seduces the village girls with songs. Charm, confidence and purity of tone made this a performance to light up the darkest autumn evening." The Arts Desk (October 2024)
"The drama comes to life when Lel, the lad whom the snowmaiden has her eye on, instead chooses the peasant girl Kupava as his bride — and those roles are sung with personality and vigour by Kitty Whately and Katherine McIndoe." Times (October 2024)
"Kitty Whately in the trouser role of Lel was suitably gamine. She has three important songs during the course of the opera: these account for her instant appeal to Snegurotchka and the other village girls, delivered here with much lyrical intensity." Opera Today (October 2024)
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"Kitty Whately gave a haunting performance as Jocasta, her richly hued mezzo giving gravitas to the queen’s realisation of the tragedy unfolding before her." The Arts Desk (August 2024)
"Kitty Whately was a formidable Jocasta, really owning the role, cheered loudly from her plinth as she joined the drama, a huge high point so impressive they did it twice." Bach Track (August 2024)
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"Successfully hoicking her plush alto into soprano territory, Kitty Whately sings a radiant Poppea – more easygoing and less purely manipulative than some." The Guardian (June 2024)
"...an exquisite vein of singing, matched by the consistently good Kitty Whately." The Times (June 2024)
"As Poppea herself, Kitty Whately was a beautifully strong presence." The Article (June 2024)
"As a mezzo-soprano, Kitty Whately also brought a refocusing to Poppea. The role lay easily in her vocal compass but the voice's centre of gravity and Whately's demeanour gave Poppea a greater sense of balance and experience. She was still very sexy, but less the perky soubrette, creating something more languorous. This Poppea felt less like a gold digger and the creamy luxury of Whately's voice made Poppea sound well upholstered. The duets with Sam Furness' Nerone really did tingle, and that they stripped down and got into bed during the final duet felt inevitable." Planet Hugill (June 2024)
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"Kitty Whately made a memorable protagonist, her spotless mezzo-soprano and crisp diction bringing clarity to an elusive staging." The Guardian (February 2024)
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"Whately’s yielding to Lester’s Guglielmo has a self-assured frankness that echoes Mozart’s genuine eroticism at this point... Musically, much of it is superb. Clarke, with her silvery tone, is ravishing in her arias and her voice blends wonderfully well with Whately’s in their duets. The latter brings real emotional fire to È Amore un Ladroncello and that duet with Lester." The Guardian (June 2023)
"Kitty Whately, also Holland Park’s Dorabella, proved every inch – note? – her equal, yet properly different in character. Their collaborative chemistry was notable..." Opera Today (June 2023)
"Though Ferrando and Guglielmo (Nicholas Lester) are blessed with the perfect appearance for a comedy duo, the girls are funnier: one of the great pleasures of the evening is enjoying the interaction between Fiordiligi and Dorabella (Kitty Whately)." Seen and Heard (June 2023)
"Samantha Clarke and Kitty Whately made a delightful and highly believable pair of sisters. Much of the joy of this performance came from Clarke and Whately's interactions, the way they told the story via little looks and telling intimate detail.
Kitty Whately is an experienced Dorabella (we caught her in the role at Opera Holland Park in 2018, with Nicholas Lester as Guglielmo, see my review) but there was nothing routine about her performance. There was a wonderful freshness about how Whately drew Dorabella's volatility, which came over in her two arias. Yet, there was no easy depiction of Dorabella as the lively one and Fiordiligi as the serious one, here the two sisters played off each other delightfully. And you sensed that this Dorabella really fell for the disguised Guglielmo, their duet in the second scene of Act Two was touching and at the end Whately's Dorabella was bewildered and angry." Planet Hugill (June 2023)
CONTACT
Sophie Dand - Director
+44 (0)7814224313
sophie@srcreativeconsultancy.com
Rachel Walters - Director
+44 (0)7747 487 993
rachel@srcreativeconsultancy.com
