Katie Malone ('17) Sees Opera Dream Materialize

By Bob Castello
SJCS Communications Manager

This is what Katie Malone has been working toward all these years.

This is why Katie, a 2017 SJCS graduate, majored in vocal performance; why she attended the Manhattan School of Music; and why she lives in New York.

All of these helped lead to the incredible opportunity she will have this summer, when Katie will perform with the San Diego-based Opera Neo in Armida -- first at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest and then at the UC San Diego Park & Market.

"This is a big step forward for me," she said.

The steps have been noteworthy for Katie, who attended St. Joseph's from the sixth through 12th grades and delighted audiences with her singing in classics such as Godspell, Bye Bye Birdie and Fiddler on the Roof.

Upon graduation from St. Joe's, Katie went to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and majored in vocal performance, which covered opera. Then she moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, from which she graduated in May.

Katie stayed in New York and got a job at The Juilliard Store, at which all employees are working musicians.
 

"We're the only sheet music store left in the city, so we serve the whole New York City community of musicians, like the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera," Katie said. "We have to help professional musicians find music scores and answer questions about them, and you have to be a musician in order to answer those questions.

"It's awesome. I've actually met some of my idols because The Juilliard Store is located right by Lincoln Center, so these famous singers from the Metropolitan Opera come in looking for things, and I get to talk to them. It's been really cool."

Katie said she's met Grammy Award-winning opera singers such as Erin Morley, who's been a big inspiration to her, and Isabel Leonard, who also frequents the store.

"The best part of the job is because we're all musicians, including my boss, she's very understanding about taking time off to do what we're passionate about, which is the actual musician gigs," Katie said. "So I'll have this job when I come back from my big summer, even though I'm going to be gone for most of the summer. I couldn't really do that with an office job."

Katie has sung in concerts before, and she was actually paid to sing this past summer in Chautauqua, New York.

Katie grew up vacationing with her family in Chautauqua, a community that loves opera. She took part in the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory and graduated two summers ago. She was invited back to sing at a memorial concert for one of her former voice teachers.

"That was the first time I got paid to sing opera on a big stage with an orchestra," she said. "But this upcoming gig is unique because it's a full show instead of just a concert."

One of the big reasons Katie lives in New York is that just about every opera company in the country comes there each weekend in the fall to hold auditions. Katie auditioned for Opera Neo and was invited to be in Armida this summer. In the opera, by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, Katie will be playing the role of Zelmira.

"It's a really cool opportunity because the director of the program collaborates with the Hungarian State Opera, which is the biggest opera company in Hungary," Katie said, "so I not only get to perform in San Diego, but I also get to perform this very same show in Budapest."

She's scheduled to leave for Budapest on May 19. She'll rehearse for three weeks and then perform in the show on June 21. Then she'll travel from Budapest to San Diego, where she will have more rehearsals. She also will be singing in a concert and in the chorus of another show before performing in two showings of Armida, on July 18 and 19.

Katie said she's been preparing in advance, having already learned the music.

"They expect you to memorize it and know the music like the back of your hand so that when I get over there, all that's left to do is stage it," she said. "Meet the stage director, put it on stage, rehearse it, practice with an orchestra and perform it."

Indeed, this step is more of a leap for Katie because, as she said, "Companies are much more inclined to invite you to audition for them if they see prior experience."

And Katie is hopeful this will be, at once, the experience of a lifetime and the start of something big.

"I've been dreaming about this for pretty much my whole life," she said. "It's a nice sigh of relief that my work for years has paid off."

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Click HERE to view photos of Katie Malone singing in a production of La Rondine at Manhattan School of Music (Photos Courtesy of Brian Hatton) and as a finalist in the school's Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition (Photos Courtesy of Ya Gao).

Click HERE to watch Katie singing on her YouTube channel.