Encompass Arts Founder, Katherine Olsen, is one of the most famous and sought-after opera coach/accompanists in the world today. She is currently on the board of the Singer’s Development Foundation and the Marcello Giordani Foundation. In 2001, she was appointed Principle Coach and Artistic Administrator for Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning production of Puccini’s La Boheme. She worked closely with the company in both the pre-production phase and during the performance runs in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Ms. Olsen was part of the casting team responsible for hiring both principle artists and chorus. Several of the young artists she selected for La Boheme have gone on to further operatic achievements including: MET tenor, Joseph Kaiser, who portrays Tamino in Kenneth Branaugh’s film The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon; Ben Davis who portrays Papageno in the same film; Alfred Boe Alfie Boe crossover recording artist; and David Miller, now a recording artist with the group Il Divo.
Ms. Olsen has played for and adjudicated many prestigious vocal competitions including: The American Opera Foundation, The MacAllister Competition, The Puccini Competition, The George London Awards, The Richard Tucker Foundation, The Reyfuss Competition, The United Negro Spiritual Foundation, and Voci Verdiane-Busetto, Italy. As a pianist she has collaborated with such artists as: Ben Heppner, Leona Mitchell, Sherrill Milnes, Cheryl Studer, Gary Lakes, Barbara Daniels, Harolyn Blackwell, John Cullum, Lisa Vroman, Marcello Giordani and Riccardo Caruso (great-grandson of Enrico Caruso).
Over the course of her career, she has been involved with many teaching programs and masterclasses with: Renata Scotto, Sherrill Milnes, Martina Arroyo and Regina Resnik, to name a few. She has been on the staff of numerous summer programs including: Opern Air Gars, Voice Experience, Berkshire Opera Young Artists Program and The Martina Arroyo Foundation summer program.
Ms. Olsen has written articles and been interviewed numerous times on the subject of accompanying by: Keyboard Magazine, Classical Singer Magazine and The Christian Science Monitor. She holds both a Bachelor of Music and a Masters Degree in Piano Performance and received a staff position at the University of Tennessee as an accompanist. In 1982 she was hired by the Juilliard School’s prestigious American Opera Center. An appointment to the music staff of the Lyric Opera of Chicago followed in 1989. Ms. Olsen returned to New York for the birth of her daughter and has maintained a successful vocal studio there for the past 35 years. Kathy is married to MET baritone, Gary Simpson.