Katherine Saik is a cross-genre vocalist and teacher who currently serves as a Core Lecturer in Music at Smith College. She holds a Bachelor of Music from UMass Amherst, and a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music where she focused on classical music and opera performance.  While a graduate student, Katherine performed with the Manhattan School of Music Contemporary Opera Ensemble, and the Discover Opera outreach program which brought opera and cabaret to schools in greater Manhattan. She also performed with multiple chamber ensembles and as a concert soloist including Poulenc’s Gloria at Saint John the Divine Cathedral with Philippe Entremont conducting. Additionally, she was the second place winner in the Alan and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition and first place winner in the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition. This led to her performing and recording Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 under the baton of George Manahan.  

 

Since returning to the Pioneer Valley, Katherine has been active in local and regional performing arts. She has appeared in several operas, including La bohème (Mimi), Pagliacci (Nedda), Cavalleria Rusticana (Lola), Idomeneo (Idamante), Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess), Windows (Con Man) and Die Walküre (Siegrune). She has appeared as a concert soloist with the Windham Philharmonic, the Farmington Valley Symphony, Smith College, Panopera, the Keene Chorale, Bennington College and the South Hadley Chorale. Katherine was recently one of the artists who premiered a new song cycle by composer, Nico Gutierrez (Unsaid Prayers) at Clark University.

 

In addition to performing, Katherine has been active in recent years as a stage director, administrator and producer for schools and local arts organizations. She directed several musicals and ensembles for local school districts, served on the board of the Valley Light Opera, stage directed Sweeney Todd and produced two virtual concerts (Rhapsody and American Arias) for Panopera.