Mezzo-soprano Katherine DeYoung, originally from Traverse City, Michigan, is currently a third-year Ensemble Member of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the 2022-2023 season, she sang Giovanna in Ernani and Mercédès in Carmen. She also covered Ragonde in Le Comte Ory, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Soloist in Proximity. She was the Mezzo-Soprano Soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at Michigan State University. 

In the Lyric’s 2021-2022 Season, she performed as the Second Lady in The Magic Flute, and sang in the Rising Stars Concert and in The Magic Victrola. She is a 2019 Sullivan Award Winner from The William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, a 2021 Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient from the Shoshana Foundation, the 2022 Eileen Deneen Scholarship Award Winner from The American Opera Society of Chicago, and a 2020 semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. 

DeYoung was a member of the Detroit Opera Studio program from 2018-2020. She performed Der Sandmann in Hänsel und Gretel, the Old Lady in Candide, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, covered Olga in Eugene Onegin, and performed Mae and covered Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, she was a member of the Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Singer Program, where she covered the role of The Mayor’s Wife in Jenůfa and performed the Act One Duet from La Favorita and the Act One Finale as Ma Joad from The Grapes of Wrath for the Apprentice Scenes programs. 

Katherine holds a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Houston, where she performed Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Fidalma in The Secret Marriage, Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Princess Clarice in The Love for Three Oranges, and Lady Sneerwell in the World Premiere of The School for Scandal. She appeared with the Texas Medical Center Orchestra at the “A Night at the Opera” Concert and was the Alto Soloist for Chapelwood United Methodist’s “Messiah Selections.” She was a finalist and The Online Viewers’ Choice Award Winner in the Houston Grand Opera’s 31st Eleanor McCollum Competition. She is an alumna of Michigan State University.