Click on Kathleen to hear her sing

What's a dramatic soprano? Singers are classified by a German system called the "fach system." You may already know that in terms of vocal range (lowest usable note the singer can reach to highest usable note the singer can reach), the main categories are bass, baritone, tenor, alto, and soprano. ("Alto" is the term used in choral or ensemble work; when it's an opera context, that person might be a "mezzo-soprano" or a "contralto.") These things are further broken into high baritone, low baritone, etc. However, there are also distinctions drawn based on timbre (tonal color), not just vocal range. A lyric soprano has a lighter sound than a dramatic soprano even though they're only a couple of notes apart in range; a coloratura soprano is fast as well as high (the Queen of the Night in Mozart is probably the best known example), and so on. During most of Kathleen's life, she's been a mezzo-soprano, which is about the same vocal range as a dramatic soprano, but with a different timbre. In fact, most of the music at her MP3.com page is from the mezzo repertoire. There's always been disagreement over which she really was; when she sang mezzo, some people said, "You're really a dramatic soprano," and vice versa. It's become clear in the last couple of years that she is a dramatic soprano, a change that usually happens after age 30. That means her entire repertoire goes out the window, and she has to learn all new arias—which she's still doing. The leading roles for dramatic sopranos are mostly in Wagner and Verdi: they're huge, dramatic roles in huge, dramatic productions. New train of thought: Opera singers often begin their careers in small opera houses and work their ways up. The obstacle for Kathleen is that small US opera companies usually don't do Wagner. Seattle Opera does the Ring cycle, or the Met will, or LA Opera might, but these are multimillion-dollar productions, so there's no place for an artist at the beginning of her career. In Germany, every little town has its own opera company, and, being German, they're really into German opera. So a dramatic soprano at the beginning of her career might actually be cast in a leading role in Lohengrin.