Research Catalogue

American/Korean soprano Kristen Witmer began her musical studies with piano and singing at age 8, and harmony at age 15. She studied classical and baroque singing at Tokyo University of the Arts where she was awarded the Yomiuri New Artist Prize, the Akanthas Prize and the Douseikai Prize upon graduation. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Early Music Singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she is now earning a master’s degree with Peter Kooij, Lenie v/d Heuvel, Jill Feldman and Michael Chance.

Music studies outside the university include Medieval and Renaissance music and participation in the master classes by Peter Kooij, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Masaaki Suzuki and Konrad Richter. She won prizes in contests such as the ‘Yuai International Lied Wettbewerb’, ‘Concour de Melodies Francaise et Japonaise’, ‘Japanischer Mozart Musikwettbewerb’ and ‘Japanischer Schubert Musikwettbewerb’.

As a soloist Kristen has performed Bach’s Cantatas, B-minor mass, Magnificat, St. John and St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Belinda), Faure’s Requiem, Allegri’s Miserere and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine.

Kristen also appears in concerts with Baroque and Renaissance ensembles such as Bach Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki), Sette Voci (Peter Kooij) and has sung as a soloist with Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), The Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin), Vox Luminis (Lionel Meunier) and L’Armonia Sonora (Mieneke van der Velden).

(As at October 2013)