Kitty Whately trained at Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. She won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 59th Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, and was part of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy where she appeared as Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro and in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Kitty was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013-15, during which time she recorded her debut solo album This Other Eden, made recordings with the BBC orchestras, commissioned a new song cycle from Jonathan Dove, and made several appearances at the Proms.
Recent opera highlights include Sesto Giulio Cesare for English Touring Opera, Isabelle in Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights for L’Opera National de Lorraine, Mother/Other Mother in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s latest opera Coraline for Royal Opera House at the Barbican, Dorabella Così fan tutte for Opera Holland Park, Nancy Albert Herring for The Grange Festival in the festival’s debut season, as Hermia in the Robert Carson production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Bergan National Opera and in Beijing; the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s The House Taken Over for the Aix-en-Provence Festival directed by Katie Mitchell, with performances in Antwerp, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Bruges and Lisbon; Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Opera Holland Park); Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bergen National Opera); Kate Owen Wingrave (Opéra National de Lorraine); Dorabella Cosi fan tutte (English Touring Opera) and Ippolita / Pallade in Cavalli’s Elena in Montpellier and Versailles for the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She made her English National Opera debut playing several roles in Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress.
In 2017 Kitty released her second album, Nights not spent alone, to critical acclaim. Recorded in a co-production between Champs Hill Records and the BBC, and accompanied by distinguished pianist Simon Lepper, the disc presents complete works for mezzo-soprano by Jonathan Dove. It includes a song cycle of the same name dedicated to Kitty, which she premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 2015.
Kitty is the co-founder of the charity SWAP’ra (Supporting Women And Parents in Opera).