Biography
Praised for her “beautiful ringing tone” (Ludwig van Toronto), soprano Kathryn Rose Johnston (MMus UBC, BMus U of T) is an emerging talent on the Canadian opera scene. She was selected as a finalist in the National Auditions for the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal and the 2023 National Capital Opera Society Competition, and was a young artist with Confluence Concerts in their inaugural Side-by-Side Young Artist program (2024).
As a champion of new works, Kathryn workshopped Canadian composer Dean Burry’s new opera Il giudizio di Pigmalione as Galatea and sang Ariadne in the live premiere of Norbert Palej’s The Art of Love at COSA Canada’s Summer Vocal Intensive in June 2023. She also premiered Princess Shirin in The Echoes of Bi-Sotoon, newly composed opera scenes in Farsi by seven BIPOC composers around the globe with the Cultureland Opera Collective.
This season Kathryn prepares to sing Musetta in La bohème at the Redwood Theatre, Ilia in Idomeneo with Grand River Opera and the soprano solo in Mozart’s Requiem with the Kingston Choral Society in her hometown. She continues as co-producer and soprano of the Fonitika Vocal Ensemble, a performing member of the Toronto Heliconian Club and enters her fourth year teaching voice lessons at Bravo Academy for the Performing Arts.