Described as a singer with “commanding interpretive depth” (New York Times) as well as having a “pure vocal talent” (Opera Wire Magazine), Kayleigh Butcher (mezzo soprano) has gained critical and audience acclaim as a soloist and contemporary chamber musician.
Kayleigh began her professional career in Kansas City with the Lyric Opera, serving as one of the company’s Outreach Young Artists. From there she enjoyed many operatic roles in Kansas City, Toledo, Chicago, and New York City. Most recent accomplish-ments include Robert Ashley’s eL/Aficionado, Curtis Rumrill’s The Winter Dog, and James Barry’sSmashed, and has been featured as alto soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat in D, Handel’s Messiah, and in Bach’s Cantata BWV 4.
As a fervent supporter and advocate for classical contemporary music, Kayleigh has also worked with many composers including David Lang, Tristan Perich, Eve Beglarian, Tom Hamilton, Holly Herndon, John Luther Adams, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, David Reminick, Jennifer Walshe, Jessie Marino, Mary Prescott, Paul Pinto, Andrew Tham, Alex Temple, Molly Herron, Fjola Evans, Tom Cipullo, Levy Lorenzo, Daniel Felsenfeld, Eliza Brown, Luis Fernando Amaya, Adrian Montùfar, Amanda Feery, LJ White, Bethany Younge, Ravi Kittappa, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Jennifer Jolley.
She has also collaborated with many new music ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Dal Niente, Opera on Tap NYC, the Morton Feldman Chamber Players, the Austin New Music Co-op, the Grant Wallace Band, Anti-Social Music, thingNY, Fonema Consort, a.per.i.o.dic, and Rhymes With Opera, to name a few.
Kayleigh is also a founding member and the director of Quince Ensemble, an all-treble, acappella vocal quartet that explores experimental vocal techniques and improvisation. Quince has performed on many contemporary series, festivals, and at prestigious venues such as NYC’s HERE Arts, Chicago’s Ear Taxi Festival, Fast Forward Austin, Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion, Omaha’s Under the Radar, Festival, Chicago’s Cultural Center, San Francisco’s The Center of New Music, Stanford University, Issue Project Room, Constellation Chicago’s Frequency Series, BGSU’s Forefront Series, University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium, and NYC’s SONiC Festival.
Kayleigh received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where she studied with Dr. Anne DeLaunay and Dr. Denise Knowlton. She was a graduate teaching assistant to Dr. Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers at Bowling Green State University, where she earned her Master of Music. She currently resides in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn with her dog Simon.
