Kathleen Watt

Kathleen Watt performed principal roles with the Boston Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera Theater, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Works NY, Springfield Regional Opera, and Utah Opera. She sang with New York's Metropolitan Opera Extra Chorus until her career was derailed in 1997 by osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in her face. Kathleen has published performing arts features and essays for New York Newsday, Deutsche Gramophone (liner notes), NYCO Season Journal, Playbill Magazine, Stagebill, The Arts Council, and on LGBTQ life for Echelon Magazine. Writing as a cancer survivor, Kathleen was an editorial contributor to the London-based Saving Faces charity, and has collaborated with doctors and artists on a range of projects, including an on-camera segment for a BBC special about facial disfigurement. Formerly a graphic designer and illustrator for major publications, her rich, varied experience also includes a teaching stint in the Navajo Nation. Kathleen has a BFA from Brigham Young University, and a professional certificate in vocal arts from Boston University, with additional studies at Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. Kathleen now resides on a windswept hay farm in the Catskills of upstate New York, where she writes and lives with her partner, seven chickens, three dogs, and occasionally two grown children.