MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Baroque Duet

Soprano Kathleen Battle's luminous voice has been called "…without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world" (The Washington Post).

Yet beyond the glory of her singing, in a career filled with countless accolades, honors and major milestones, what has perhaps distinguished her most is her almost magical ability to create an unwavering emotional bond between herself, her music and her audience.

In a repertoire that ranges from Handel to Richard Strauss, she has enjoyed some of her greatest successes on the stages of the world's leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, the opera houses of Vienna, Paris, Chicago and London's Royal Opera House. Miss Battle has enjoyed close collaborations with the most noted artists of our time and has performed with the world's great orchestras in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Los Angeles.

In recital, she has mesmerized audiences around the globe with her unique artistry and vocal beauty. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Miss Battle has made many recordings and her many television appearances have brought her voice and musicianship into millions of homes worldwide. Her repertoire embraces jazz and spirituals as well as an uncommonly wide range of classical music, from the Baroque to composer Andre Previn's song cycle Honey and Rue, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Miss Battle, with texts by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.

A native of Portsmouth, Ohio, Kathleen Battle earned both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.

Miss Battle is the recipient of six honorary doctorates from American universities and, in 1999, was inducted into the NAACP Image Hall of Fame.