Katherine Pracht’s 2021 engagements included a world premiere and cast recording as Horatio in Joseph Summer’s new opera, Hamlet, at the Dohodno Zdanie Theater in Ruse, Bulgaria, and a reprisal of the title role in Kevin Puts’ opera, Elizabeth Cree with West Edge Opera. She also made a role and company debut as Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with IlluminArts. Her 2019 season had three important role debuts: Charlotte in A Little Night Music with Madison Opera, Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Florentine Opera, and Kate Julian in Britten’s rarely heard Owen Wingrave with Little Opera Theatre of NY. In 2022-23, she performs Madeleine in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera on the Avalon, returns to West Edge Opera for her first Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, workshops a new opera, Bullrusher, and debuts with the Quad-City Symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In 2019 she sang Duruflé’s Requiem with the Washington Chorus, and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia
Katy frequently appears with Opera Philadelphia, most recently as Linette in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges and We Shall Not Be Moved. Other highlights include Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5 for Trinity Wall Street, Lady Wang in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber in Changsha, Beijing, and Wuhan, China, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the York Symphony, and the title role in Elizabeth Cree with Chicago Opera Theater, where the Chicago Tribune said “Katherine Pracht brought a mezzo of size and quality, and confident dramatic presence, to the complicated title role.”
Additional credits include Mariam in the AOP-sponsored workshop of Sheila Silver’s opera, A Thousand Splendid Suns, A Bernstein Marathon and Arias & Barcarolles (with Michael Barrett and the New York Festival of Song with NYFOS) presented by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and the premiere of Sing! The Music Was Given at Carnegie Hall, and Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles with The Orchestra NOW at Bard (under the baton of Leon Botstein). She returned to the Bard Festival in Rimsky-Korsakov’s From Homer with the American Symphony Orchestra, and as Dunyasha in The Tsar’s Bride. Katy performed Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles for The Intimacy of Creativity 2017 Festival in Hong Kong. Her Kennedy Center debut was as mezzo soloist in Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5 with the Washington Chorus.
Katy has created many roles in new works including: Florence Williams in Susan Kander’s The News From Poems, Hester Prynne in Eric Sawyer’s The Scarlet Professor, Eve in Julian Wachner and Cerise Jacobs’ Rev 23 for the Prototype Festival, Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry with Florentine Opera, Ariel in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s The Tempest for The Shakespeare Concerts in Boston (recorded by Albany Records), Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the York Symphony, and Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with Grand Rapids Symphony.
Pracht made her Carnegie Hall debut as Alto Soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, her debut with Opera Philadelphia as Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, twice sang Der Trommler in Der Kaiser von Atlantis for Central City Opera with the Colorado Symphony and for Chicago’s New Millennium Orchestra, sang Meg in Little Women directed by David Gately for Opera on the James, and performed two concerts with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus singing John Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky.
She made her Dallas Opera debut as Stephano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, sang Rosina in Opera on the James’s Il Barbieri di Siviglia, and performed the role of Julia in the world premiere of Kirke Mechem’s The Rivals for Skylight Opera Theatre. Pracht made her international/Radio France debut singing Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte with Lyrique-en-mer Festival in Belle-ile, and her Avery Fisher Hall debut in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust with the American Symphony Orchestra.