Long Bio
Described by The New Yorker as "one of the great originals of her generation," composer, performer, and writer Kate Soper has been creating unique and uncategorizable musico-theatrical spectacles for over a decade. Her work explores the integration of drama and rhetoric into musical structure, the slippery continuums of expressivity, intelligibility and sense, and the wonderfully treacherous landscape of the human voice. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Rome Prize fellow, she has received awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Koussevitzky Foundations and the American Academy of Letters, and has been commissioned by Miller Theatre, Alarm Will Sound, and the New York Philharmonic. Her critically-acclaimed large-scale works include the monodramas Voices from the Killing Jar, IPSA DIXIT, and Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus and the operas Here Be Sirens, The Romance of the Rose, and The Hunt.
In addition to international recognition as a composer, Kate enjoys a varied performance career as a theatre artist and new music vocalist. Praised by The New York Times for her "lithe voice and riveting presence," she has been featured as a composer/performer on the Big Ears Festival, the Miller Theatre Composer Portraits series, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW series, and the LA Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series, and has been a guest soloist in her own work with groups including Alarm Will Sound, the MIVOS string quartet, and the New York Philharmonic. An enthusiastic champion of the works of others, Kate has performed in U.S. and world premieres by Beat Furrer, George Lewis, Sky MacClay, Alex Mincek, Katharina Rosenberger, Eric Wubbels, and many others. She has released three monographs as a composer/performer: "Voices from the Killing Jar" and "IPSA DIXIT" with the Wet Ink Ensemble, and "The Understanding of All Things" (as vocalist/pianist/composer) with Sam Pluta.
As a non-fiction and creative writer, Kate has been published by McSweeney's Quarterly, PAJ, the Massachusetts Review, Theory and Practice, and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies. She is co-director and vocalist of the Wet Ink Ensemble, a collective of composers, performers, and improvisors dedicated to seeking out adventurous music across aesthetic boundaries.
Short Bio
Described by The New Yorker as "one of the great originals of her generation," composer, performer, and writer Kate Soper has been creating unique and uncategorizable musico-theatrical spectacles for over a decade. Her critically-acclaimed large-scale works include the monodramas Voices from the Killing Jar, IPSA DIXIT, and Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus and the operas Here Be Sirens, The Romance of the Rose, and The Hunt. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Rome Prize fellow, she has been commissioned by Miller Theatre, Alarm Will Sound, and the New York Philharmonic. Praised by The New York Times for her "lithe voice and riveting presence,” she performs frequently in her own works and in the works of others. Kate is co-director and vocalist for the Wet Ink Ensemble, a collective of composers, performers, and improvisors dedicated to seeking out adventurous music across aesthetic boundaries.
Interviews and Podcasts
"Kate Soper Returns to Opera with a Story Medieval and Modern" (The New York Times, 2023) article and interview
"An Eagerly Awaited Opera, Delayed by the Pandemic, Opens at Last" (The New York Times, 2023) article and interview
"Sam's Going to the Diner at Noon: Living the Composer's Life" (Sound American, 2022) interview (with Eric Wubbels)
"From Medieval Romance to Contemporary Opera: Philosophy, Eros, Allegory" (PAJ, 2022) interview and libretto excerpt
Miller Theater: Mission Commission Season 2 (2021), podcast
"Kate Soper Revisits 'Voices from the Killing Jar'" (Cultural Attache, 2021): interview
Lexical Tones Episode 107 (2019), podcast
Adagio for Things S2E6: Clapping Music (2019), podcast (interview begins ca. 29')
Artist of the Month Interview, New York Festival of Song (2019), interview
"Five Questions to Kate Soper About Ipsa Dixit" (I Care if You Listen, October 2018), intervew
"Between Singing and Speaking" (The Organist, October 2018), podcast
An interview with Kate Soper (Believer Magazine, 2018), interview
"She tackled Aristolte in an opera. Next up: Medieval French couplets" (The New York Times, 2018), article and interview
"Kate Soper on IPSA DIXIT" (AXS, 2017) interview
"Kate Soper: Real Communication" (New Music Box, 2016), video interview and article
"Composer Profile: Kate Soper" (Musicakaleidoscope, 2016), article and interview
"Kate Soper Brings Dramatic Potency to Tanglewood" (The Boston Globe, 2014), article and interview
Hi-res photos
Credit Maggie Shannon, here and here
Credit Marco Giugliarelli for Civitella Ranieri Foundation, here
Credit Jim Gipe, here
Credit Gretchen Robinette, here and here
Credit Claudia Gori for the American Academy in Rome, here and here
Credit An Rong Xu for the New York Times, here
