ABOUT ME
Described as "Rad as f*&^" (Scapi Magazine) and having "a sound that is well-suited for the strange world of new music" (Chicago Classical Review), 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 has enjoyed many operatic roles in Toledo, Chicago, and New York City. Most recent accomplishments include James Barry's Smashed, Robert Honstein’s My Heart Iz Open, Todd Goodman's Night of the Living Dead, Jiří Kadeřábek's Kafka's Women, Puccini's Suor Angelica, Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Handel's Acis and Galatea, the world premiere of Kirke Meechem's John Brown, 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 contemporary music, Kayleigh has also worked with many composers including David Lang, Tristan Perich, Eve Beglarian, Holly Herndon, John Luther Adams, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, David Reminick, Jennifer Walshe, Jessie Marino, Lester St. Louis, Danny Clay, Alex Temple, Molly Herron, Fjola Evans, Levy Lorenzo, Daniel Felsenfeld, Morgan Krauss, Eliza Brown, Luis Amaya, Aaron Levin, Adrian Montùfar, Joe Clark, Jonathan Sokol, Max Grafe, Amanda Feery, LJ White, Bethany Younge, Ravi Kittappa, 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-female, acappella vocal quartet that explores experimental vocal techniques and improvisation. Quince has performed on many contemporary series, festivals, and at prestigious venues such as Contagious Sounds, Elastic Arts Foundation, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, HERE Arts, Chicago’s Ear Taxi Festival, Fast Forward Austin, Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Omaha’s Under the Radar, National Pastime Theater, Chicago’s Cultural Center, San Francisco’s The Center of New Music, Stanford University, Northwestern’s NUNC, Issue Project Room, Permutations, Constellation Chicago’s Frequency Series, thingNY’s Immediacies Series, BGSU’s Forefront Series, Chicago’s Comfort Music, High Concept Labs, University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium, and NYC’s SONiC Festival at Shapeshifter Lab.
Kayleigh received her Bachelor’s 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 Brooklyn with her fat cat, Cherubino.
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 has enjoyed many operatic roles in Toledo, Chicago, and New York City. Most recent accomplishments include James Barry's Smashed, Robert Honstein’s My Heart Iz Open, Todd Goodman's Night of the Living Dead, Jiří Kadeřábek's Kafka's Women, Puccini's Suor Angelica, Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Handel's Acis and Galatea, the world premiere of Kirke Meechem's John Brown, 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 contemporary music, Kayleigh has also worked with many composers including David Lang, Tristan Perich, Eve Beglarian, Holly Herndon, John Luther Adams, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, David Reminick, Jennifer Walshe, Jessie Marino, Lester St. Louis, Danny Clay, Alex Temple, Molly Herron, Fjola Evans, Levy Lorenzo, Daniel Felsenfeld, Morgan Krauss, Eliza Brown, Luis Amaya, Aaron Levin, Adrian Montùfar, Joe Clark, Jonathan Sokol, Max Grafe, Amanda Feery, LJ White, Bethany Younge, Ravi Kittappa, 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-female, acappella vocal quartet that explores experimental vocal techniques and improvisation. Quince has performed on many contemporary series, festivals, and at prestigious venues such as Contagious Sounds, Elastic Arts Foundation, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, HERE Arts, Chicago’s Ear Taxi Festival, Fast Forward Austin, Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Omaha’s Under the Radar, National Pastime Theater, Chicago’s Cultural Center, San Francisco’s The Center of New Music, Stanford University, Northwestern’s NUNC, Issue Project Room, Permutations, Constellation Chicago’s Frequency Series, thingNY’s Immediacies Series, BGSU’s Forefront Series, Chicago’s Comfort Music, High Concept Labs, University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium, and NYC’s SONiC Festival at Shapeshifter Lab.
Kayleigh received her Bachelor’s 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 Brooklyn with her fat cat, Cherubino.
