Fine Arts Division

Kathleen Roland

Kathleen Roland is a highly regarded concert soloist and a well known specialist in the music of the 20th and 21st century. She has been a featured singer with many music festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Britten-Pears Institute and the Tanglewood Music Festival, and has performed with many notable conductors, including James Conlon, Kent Nagano, Reinbert de Leeuw, James Mauceri, and Oliver Knussen. Dr. Roland has been a frequent featured soloist with the Grammy award-winning Southwest Chamber Music Society of Los Angeles, with whom she has garnered critical acclaim for her performances. Recordings include a CD created with American composer Libby Larsen of her song cycle, Songs from Letters, from Calamity Jane to her daughter Janey, and Aura, for orchestra and soloists by Grawemeyer award-winning Cambodian composer Chinary Ung. International appearances include a tour with Southwest Chamber Music in Southeast Asia, featuring the music of Chinary Ung, and at the Tonhalle in Dusseldorf with conductor Robert Platz and mdi ensemble milano. Recent performances include the premiere of Chinary Ung's Spirals XII with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall, and as soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Los Angeles Korean Philharmonic Orchestra at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles.

Her 2007 Fulbright award made possible continued research on the vocal music of Scandinavia, as well as performances and master classes of American art song in Sweden. This coming year takes her around the U.S. performing concerts of Swedish art song, and to Sweden for a performance of American music. The soprano was an invited presenter this past year at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Paris, where she presented her research on the ground-breaking 21st century Swedish opera, Marie Antoinette, och hennes kärlek till Axel von Fersen. In the summer of 2010, Dr. Roland was invited to be on the faculty of Big Bear Lake Song Festival in California. She holds a doctorate in voice from the University of Southern California, and serves on the board of the National Opera Association, as well as editor of the organization's newsletter, NOA Notes. She is currently a professor of voice at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.