Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?
I got a lot of chances to sing in choirs from an early age in school. I loved it and was good at it, but the only professional musicians I knew growing up were choir directors and piano or voice teachers. It didn’t occur to me to try to pursue singing as a career until late in my university studies. There, I sang a handful of performances that really made a deep impression and caused me to consider taking the risk: Bach Matthew Passion, Mozart Cosi fan tutte, the premiere of a friend’s opera, Tallis Lamentations.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
Figuring out how not to specialize – finding my own path, which is separate from the few well-marked ones available to young singers. The industry wants us to pigeonhole ourselves. My repertoire interests are broader than any one category, but it takes a lot of work and objectivity to keep going in several areas, to be true to my own passions, and to make my actual artistic personality into an asset instead of trimming it down to match someone else’s ideas.
Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?
My most recent recording project, Forget This Night. I’ve never believed so strongly in what seemed like an underrated piece of music (Lili Boulanger’s extraordinary song cycle Clairières dans le ciel). I worked incredibly hard on every aspect of this project to make a beautiful album that features and expands on that piece.
Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?
Mozart and music from the first half of the 20th century especially; also more contemporary works.
What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?
I keep myself as open as possible, as a human, to people’s stories and vulnerabilities, to the private textures of our lives, to what allows us to open up and feel.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
These days, there are practical considerations: trying to choose projects that aren’t too wildly different from each other in one period, so that I’m not asking my voice and body to assume totally different identities too quickly. Beyond that, the choice of music is of course important, but just as important is how much I like the other people involved.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
Hard to choose! I love Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw: it’s less “classical” in vibe than Concertgebouw, but with a perfect acoustic.
What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?
Keep giving children opportunities for group music-making… choir and orchestra and band… and expand those opportunities. Don’t cut them. So many people develop a love for music then, or at least a background in it, that lasts their whole lives.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Two highlights of the last year were a recital in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw small hall, which is a jewel-box of a venue, in a program I planned very carefully that I absolutely adored…. and also, finally getting to sing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a piece for soprano and orchestra I’ve loved for decades but never gotten a chance to do in its full version. This was with Tapiola Sinfonietta, an especially warm and dedicated group of players who fell in love with the piece and its beautiful text as we worked.
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
Keeping your love of music through all the difficulties of the career, staying open to inspiration and new ideas and styles, and encouraging and lifting up others.
What advice would you give to young/aspiring musicians?
Go to concerts. Even things you don’t know if you’ll like, don’t know if you’ll be interested in, or have never heard of. Take advantage of every youth discounted ticket. Listen, listen, listen.
What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?
Streaming. We are talking about it, but the industry – artists and venues – need to fight in a concerted, organized way against services that monetize our work and give us absolutely nothing back for it. Otherwise, it will very soon be the case that no one can earn a living any more.
Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain headlines this year’s Winchester Chamber Music Festival, which runs from 3-6 May 2024. Find out more
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