Over the last three decades, Kathleen Battle has captured audiences with her stunning and luminous vocals. In the mid 1980s, Time magazine called her one of the best lyric coloraturas in the world.

As a soloist she has performed in many choral and symphonic works including Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate, Bach's Conata No. 22 and Mahler's Symphony No. 2, No. 4 and No. 8. Battle has taken on several opera roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Nanetta in Falstaff, Semele in Semele and Zdenka in Arabella.

Among her many honors, Battle has received five Grammy awards including three for Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance and two for Best Opera Recording.

In the spring, Battle sang for Pope Benedict XVI during his papal visit to the White House.