Early years and musical education Battle was born in
Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children. Her father was a steelworker, and her mother was an active participant in the
gospel music of the family's
African Methodist Episcopal church. Battle attended
Portsmouth High School, where her music teacher and mentor was Charles P. (Phil) Varney. In a 1985
Time Magazine interview, Varney recalled the first time he heard the eight-year-old Battle sing, describing her as "this tiny little thing singing so beautifully." "I went to her later", Varney recalled, "and told her God had blessed her, and she must always sing." In that same interview, music critic
Michael Walsh described Battle as "the best lyric coloratura in the world." She majored in music education, and proceeded to a master's degree in Music Education. In 1971 she began a teaching career at an inner-city public school in Cincinnati, continuing to study voice privately while teaching 5th and 6th grade music. Later, she studied singing with
Daniel Ferro in New York.
1970s In 1972, her second year as a teacher, a friend and fellow church choir member phoned her and informed her that the conductor
Thomas Schippers was holding auditions in Cincinnati. At her audition Schippers engaged her to sing as the soprano soloist in Brahms'
German Requiem at the 1972
Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Her performance there on July 9, 1972 marked the beginning of her professional career. During the next several years, Battle would go on to sing in several more orchestral concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. Thomas Schippers introduced Kathleen Battle to his fellow conductor
James Levine who selected Battle to sing in
Mahler's
Symphony No. 8 at the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's May Festival in 1974. This was the beginning of a friendship and close professional association between Battle and Levine that would last for 20 years and resulted in several recordings and performances in recital and concert performances, including engagements in
Salzburg,
Ravinia, and
Carnegie Hall. Battle made her professional operatic debut in 1975 as Rosina in Rossini's
The Barber of Seville with the
Michigan Opera Theatre in
Detroit. She made her
New York City Opera debut the following year as Susanna in
Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro, and in 1977 made both her
San Francisco Opera debut as Oscar in
Verdi's
Un ballo in maschera and her
Metropolitan Opera debut as the Shepherd in
Wagner's
Tannhäuser. The latter performance was conducted by James Levine.
1980s Throughout the 1980s, Battle performed in recitals, choral works and opera. Her work continued to take her to performance venues around the world. In 1980 she made her
Zürich Opera debut as Adina in
Donizetti's ''
L'elisir d'amore. In 1982, she made her Salzburg Festival debut in Così fan tutte'', followed three days later by an appearance in one of the Festival's
Mozart Matinee concerts. In 1985, she was the soprano soloist in
Mozart's
Coronation Mass at
St. Peter's Basilica in the
Vatican, conducted by
Herbert von Karajan. That same year she made her
Royal Opera debut as Zerbinetta in
Ariadne auf Naxos. In 1987 Karajan invited Battle to sing Johann Strauss'
Voices of Spring for the
Vienna New Year's Day concert. In opera she sang a variety of roles including
Oscar at
Lyric Opera of Chicago and a highly acclaimed
Semele at Carnegie Hall. She returned to Salzburg various times to sing
Susanna,
Zerlina, and
Despina, Mozart roles which she also sang at several other opera houses during that period. Battle became an established artist at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1980s, singing more than 150 performances with the company in 13 different operas, including the Met's first production of
Handel's
Giulio Cesare. Other opera houses where she performed include
San Francisco Opera,
English National Opera,
Grand Théâtre de Genève,
Vienna State Opera, and
Deutsche Oper Berlin. During this period, she received three
Grammy Awards for her recordings:
Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart (1986),
Salzburg Recital (1987), and
Ariadne auf Naxos (1987). Battle's 1986 collaboration with guitarist Christopher Parkening entitled
Pleasures of Their Company was nominated for the Classical Album of the Year Grammy Award. She also received the Laurence Olivier Award (1985) for her stage performance as Zerbinetta in
Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Opera House, London. Critical response to Battle's performances had rarely varied throughout the years following her debut. In 1985,
Time Magazine pronounced her "the best lyric
coloratura soprano in the world". In the same year, she returned to Covent Garden to sing Norina in
Don Pasquale and performed in a series of solo recitals in California, as well as appearing at the
Hollywood Bowl with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic. Battle's Carnegie Hall solo recital debut came on April 27, 1991 as part of the hall's Centennial Festival. Accompanied by pianist Margo Garrett, she sang arias and songs by
Handel,
Mozart,
Liszt,
Rachmaninoff,
Gershwin and
Richard Strauss, as well as several traditional spirituals. The contralto
Marian Anderson, who had ended her farewell tour with a recital at Carnegie Hall in April 1965, was in the audience that night and Battle dedicated Rachmaninoff's "
In the Silence of the Secret Night" to her. The recording of the recital earned Battle her fourth
Grammy award. Another first came in January 1992 when Battle premiered
André Previn's song cycle
Honey and Rue with lyrics by
Toni Morrison. The work was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and composed specifically for Battle. In December 1993 she was joined by
Martin Katz and
Kenny Barron on piano and
Grady Tate (drums),
Grover Washington Jr. (saxophone) and
David Williams (bass) at Carnegie Hall for a concert featuring the music of Handel,
Haydn, and
Duke Ellington as well as Christmas spirituals. During this time she also collaborated with other musicians including trumpeter
Wynton Marsalis in a recording of baroque arias entitled,
Baroque Duet; violinist
Itzhak Perlman on an album of
Bach arias; and flautist
Jean-Pierre Rampal for a recital at
Alice Tully Hall (also released on CD). In May 1993 Battle added pop music to her repertoire with the release of
Janet Jackson's album
Janet, lending her vocals to the song "This Time". An album of Japanese melodies,
First Love, followed in November 1993. On the opera stage, she performed in a variety of Mozart,
Rossini and
Donizetti operas. Between 1990 and 1993, she performed in several productions at the Metropolitan Opera: Rosina in
The Barber of Seville (1990), Pamina in
The Magic Flute (1991 and 1993), and Adina (with
Luciano Pavarotti as Nemorino) in ''
L'elisir d'amore'' (1991, 1992, and the Met's 1993 Japan Tour). Although Battle gave several critically praised performances at the Metropolitan Opera during the early 1990s, her relationship with the company's management showed increasing signs of strain during those years. As Battle's status grew, so did her reputation for being difficult and demanding. General Manager
Joseph Volpe responded by dismissing Battle from the production for "unprofessional actions" during rehearsals. Volpe called Battle's conduct "profoundly detrimental to the artistic collaboration among all the cast members" and indicated that he had "canceled all offers that have been made for the future." Any input that Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine (Battle’s close friend and collaborator for 20 years) may have had is shrouded in mystery. Battle was replaced in Donizetti's
La fille du régiment by
Harolyn Blackwell. At the time of her termination from the Met, Michael Walsh of
Time magazine reported that "the cast of
The Daughter of the Regiment applauded when it was told during rehearsal that Battle had been fired." In a statement released by her management company,
Columbia Artists, Battle said: "I was not told by anyone at the Met about any unprofessional actions. To my knowledge, we were working out all of the artistic problems in the rehearsals, and I don't know the reason behind this unexpected dismissal. All I can say is I am saddened by this decision." She also released two albums in 1995:
So Many Stars, a collection of folk songs, lullabies, and spirituals (with accompanying live concert performances) with
Christian McBride and
Grover Washington Jr. (with whom she had performed in Carnegie Hall the previous year); and ''Angels' Glory,'' a Christmas album with guitarist
Christopher Parkening, a frequent collaborator. In 1997 came the release of the albums
Mozart Opera Arias and
Grace, a collection of sacred songs. In October 1998, she joined jazz pianist
Herbie Hancock on his album ''
Gershwin's World'' in an arrangement of Gershwin's
Prelude in C minor. December 1999 saw the release of
Fantasia 2000, on which she is the featured soprano in
Elgar's
Pomp and Circumstance Marches performed by the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and
Chicago Symphony Chorus and conducted by long-time collaborator
James Levine. In solo recitals she performed in cities including Los Angeles, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago in programs that featured
art songs from a variety of eras and regions, opera arias, and spirituals.
2000–present Battle has continued to pursue a number of diverse projects including the works of composers who are not associated with traditional classical music, performing the works of
Vangelis,
Stevie Wonder, and George Gershwin. In August 2000, she performed an all-Schubert program at Ravinia. In June 2001, she and frequent collaborator
soprano Jessye Norman performed Vangelis'
Mythodea at the
Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, Greece. In July 2003 she performed at the Ravinia Chicago Symphony Orchestra Gala with
Bobby McFerrin and
Denyce Graves. In 2006 she and
James Ingram sang the song ''They Won't Go When I Go'' in a Tribute to Stevie Wonder and she began including Wonder's music in her recitals. In July 2007 she debuted at the
Aspen Music Festival performing an all-
Gershwin program as part of a season benefit. In October 2007, at a fundraiser for the Keep a Child Alive Charity, Kathleen Battle and
Alicia Keys performed the song
Miss Sarajevo written by
U2's
Bono. On April 16, 2008, she sang an arrangement of the
Lord's Prayer for
Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his
papal visit to the
White House. This marks the second time she sang for a pope. (She first sang for
Pope John Paul II in 1985 as soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass.) Later that year, she performed "
Superwoman" on the
American Music Awards with
Alicia Keys and
Queen Latifah. Since that time she has appeared in the occasional piano-voice recital, including a recital of works by Schubert, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff in
Costa Mesa, California accompanied by
Olga Kern (February 2010) and a recital in
Carmel, Indiana, accompanied by Joel A. Martin (April 2013). After a 22-year absence from the Metropolitan Opera House, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Met in November 2016. Battle later performed at the Metropolitan Opera again on May 12, 2024, where she received a standing ovation at the beginning of the concert upon entering the stage. ==Major debuts==