Kathleen Battle - The Underground Railroad with the Hodgson Singers Nov. 9

Hailed by The Washington Post as possessing a voice "without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world." Kathleen Battle will join the UGA Hodgson SIngers on Sunday, November 9 at 3:00 pm in Hodgson Concert Hall. The performance, comprised of of spirituals and hymns, celebrates the roots of African-American music and freedom via the Underground Railroad.

Battle is well known as an operatic light lyric soprano, and is a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera. From her official website:

 

Since her student years, Kathleen Battle has collaborated with colleagues who rank among the world's most talented musicians. She has been a favorite soloist with the world's leading orchestras and esteemed conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, AndrŽ Previn, Claudio Abbado, Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Neville Marriner. Her partnerships with soprano Jessye Norman, tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Pl‡cido Domingo, violinist Itzhak Perlman, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Christopher Parkening, flautists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Hubert Laws, and the late saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., to name but a few, are documented on numerous recordings and video discs.

Kathleen Battle has established herself as a distinguished recording artist through a wide range of releases encompassing complete opera, concert, choral and solo albums on all major labels. Memorable concerts recorded live and now available on CD and home video include Mozart's Coronation Mass from the Vatican and the 1987 New Year's Concert, both with Herbert von Karajan conducting; the CDs are on the DG label with the video versions on Sony.  Her performance of the title role in the DG recording of Handel's Semele, with Marilyn Horne, Samuel Ramey, and John Nelson conducting, earned Miss Battle a fifth Grammy Award. This recording commemorates a now legendary concert performance of Handel's masterpiece, starring Miss Battle and virtually the same cast as the recording, which created such a sensation that Carnegie Hall recognized it as one of its one hundred milestones during its centennial year.

Kathleen Battle has made immeasurable contributions as an ambassador for classical music, performing for Presidents and dignitaries, and attracting diverse new audiences through television broadcasts of her operas and concerts, as well as through appearances on popular network talk shows. Her performance on the PBS broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's 1991 season opening gala won her an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Classical Program on Television. A documentary film on the recording of Sony's Baroque Duet album with Wynton Marsalis and John Nelson conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's was nominated for an Emmy. Miss Battle's critically acclaimed "Metropolitan Opera Presents" performances of Mozart's Die Zauberflšte and Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore are available on DG VHS and DVD, while Sony has captured her Zerlina in Karajan's production of Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival as well.

Praised for the keen intelligence which informs her musical sensitivity, Kathleen Battle earned both her Bachelor and Master degrees from the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. She has been awarded seven honorary doctoral degrees-from her Alma Mater, the University of Cincinnati; Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; Ohio University; Xavier University in Cincinnati; Amherst College; Seton Hall University, Wilberforce University, and the Manhattanville College. In honor of her outstanding artistic achievements, Miss Battle was inducted into the "NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame", and in 2002 into the "Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame". She is the first recipient of the "Ray Charles Award" bestowed upon her by Wilberforce University. Heady accomplishments indeed for an artist whose earliest connection to music was simply feeling "blessed to have a voice that somebody else wanted to hear."



 

In addition to the Hodgson Singers, Battle will be joined by choir members from Ebenezer Baptist Church (West), Hill Chapel Baptist Church, and Timothy Baptist Church.

Tickets for the event can be purchased via the UGA Performing Arts Center website or by calling the PAC box office directly at 706-542-4400.