Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948), is an African-American operatic light lyric-coloratura soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Kathleen Battle made her professional debut at the Spoleto Festival in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem under the baton of Thomas Schippers. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came only five years later in Wagner's Tannhäuser. Kathleen Battle's appearance on the PBS broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's 1991 season opening gala won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Classical Program on Television in the USA. Battle's concert and recital repertoire encompasses a wide array of music including classical, jazz, and crossover works. Her jazz and crossover repertoire includes the compositions of Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, André Previn, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Stevie Wonder among others. She is known for her performances of African-American spirituals.