Kathryne Jennings is an acclaimed soprano and voice teacher, serving as the Billie Bennett Achilles Director of Vocal Studies and Senior Lecturer at Stanford Universitysince 2021. She began teaching at Stanford in 2017 and has built a thriving vocal program, mentoring students in both classical and musical theater repertoire. With a distinguished career spanning opera, oratorio, recital, and musical theater, she has performed extensively across the United States.
Kathryne has appeared in leading operatic roles including Musetta, Norina, Susanna, Pamina, Despina, and Micaela, performing with companies such as San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater, Opera Boston, Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Opera Carolina, Piedmont Opera Theater, and Greensboro Opera. As a concert soloist, she has appeared in a wide range of major works, including Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms’ Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2 & 4, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony.She has collaborated with orchestras such as Boston’s Masterworks Chorale, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the National Chamber Orchestra, the Pioneer Valley Symphony, and the Savannah Symphony, and has been featured at festivals including Piccolo Spoleto, Eastern Music Festival, Monadnock Music, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
From 1998 to 2004, Kathryne was Artistic Director of Opera Providence in Rhode Island, leading professional productions of Rigoletto, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, La Cenerentola, Carmen, and Tosca, as well as directing The Pirates of Penzance and Così fan tutte. She also established OPERAtunity, the company’s educational outreach program. For her work with the opera company, she was honored by the Providence Tourism Council with the 2002 Celebration of Women Achievement in Music Award.
Prior to her appointment at Stanford, Kathryne was a Teaching Associate in Voice at Brown University (1990–2017) and an Instructor of Singing at the Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. Program for actors (2005–2017). Her students have gone on to prestigious conservatories such as Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music, performed at Tanglewood and other major festivals, and appeared on and off-Broadway, in regional theaters, and in national touring productions. Notable former students include Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young, and members of the Trinity Repertory Company and New York’s Fiasco Theater.