Kathryn Cruz

Grammy-nominated Kathryn Cruz enjoys a varied career performing works from the modern, classical, baroque, and jazz idioms. She has sung at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, Prague Sounds Festival, The Big Sing festival in Haarlem, Netherlands, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival in NYC, and The Staples Center. Equally at-home singing with a large orchestra, fronting a jazz quartet, teaching all ages and experience levels of students, or being a clinician and keynote speaker advocating for women in music, Kathryn is a true portfolio musician with a career that epitomizes being a vocal chameleon and master of many skillsets.

Noted as a “very expressive soprano” (Opus Colorado), Kathryn can be found singing with the nation’s top vocal ensembles including; Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winning Roomful of Teeth, Grammy-nominated Lorelei Ensemble, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, The Thirteen, and more. Kathryn’s solo engagements include appearances with Chris Thile and Asheville Symphony Orchestra and Colorado Symphony on his “Attention!,” Choral Arts Philadelphia in the premiere of previously unpublished Carissimi oratorios and Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Germantown Oratorio Society’s Messiah, Musikanten Montana (Bach’s “St. John Passion”), as Musica and Ninfa in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Baroque Chamber Orchestra (Stephen Stubbs), with Colorado Chamber Players under the direction of Matthieu Lussier in Messiah, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in Bernstein: On Stage and Screen, with Maria Schneider at the Front Range Jazz Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival in Bach’s “Magnificat”, the Ars Nova Singers in “Mass in Blue,” a two-time Nina Simone residency at Nocturne Jazz & Supper Club, and much more. Her discography includes: featured vocalist on the 2023 chamber jazz album “Flowers of Evil” by jazz pianist and composer Annie Booth, soprano on the 2025 Grammy-nominated “Beaufort Scales” by Christopher Cerrone and Lorelei Ensemble, and as featured vocalist on the upcoming album “Use Your Illusion” by NYC-based composer Eric Shanfield and the Pierrot Ensemble. A longtime educator, Kathryn has taught in many settings, from one-on-one lessons with students aged 5 through 80, to ensemble directing at the high school and collegiate level both in jazz and baroque music. A firm believer in helping her students uncover their highest and most unique potential as an artist, Kathryn understands exactly what it takes to have a thriving career in music and the myriad ways that can look.

Kathryn also served as the Director of Learning and Engagement at Boulanger Initiative, a DC-based non-profit dedicated to uplifting the music of women and gender-marginalized composers, past, present, and future. During her tenure as Director, Kathryn spoke at national conferences (League of America Orchestras, Sphinx Connect, Maryland Music Educators Association Conference) on topics such as women composers of the Baroque Era, updating orchestral audition repertoire to include underrepresented voices, graphic score composition, and more. She also worked tirelessly to bring education about women composers and their music to educational institutions all over the country, working with K-12 students, hosting teacher-training seminars, and leading a week-long residency at the Kennedy Center in 2024. She regularly led virtual presentations for a national audience as well as teaching multi-session courses about women composers throughout history.

Kathryn earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory and History from the University of Idaho and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from California State University Fullerton.