Mezzo-soprano Kimberly Gratland James enjoys an active career as an operatic and symphonic performer.  Onstage she recently performed the role of Lola in Cavalleria rusticana and covered the title role of Carmen at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.  She performed Jo in Little Women with Opera Mundi in Mexico City, a role she previously performed at Chautauqua Opera and Indiana University.  Additional professional credits include Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro with Lyric Opera Cleveland, and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Chautauqua Opera.  Ms. James also performed a number of feature mezzo-soprano roles as a student at Indiana University including Erika in Vanessa, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Siébel in Faust, Princess Clarissa in The Love for Three Oranges, and Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes.

Kimberly is also a successful concert artist.  In 1999 she performed John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music with the New World Symphony, which was conducted by Adams and returned the next December to perform in Andriessen’s De Staat.  She reprised Grand Pianola with Adams and the London Sinfonietta at Lincoln Center in 2003 and the Los Angeles Symphony in 2004.  This spring she performed the mezzo solos in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Amherst College and the Duruflé Requiem at Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne and also appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Her symphonic repertoire also includes Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony which she performed with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.  She also sang music of Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Fort Worth Symphony in a concert conducted by Skitch Henderson.  Other concert repertoire highlights include the Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Bach Magnificat, and the Dubois Seven Last Words of Christ.

Ms. James joined the music faculty of the University of Montana at Missoula this past fall, and is a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree in Music Literature and Performance at Indiana University Bloomington. She resides in Missoula with her husband, tenor Creighton James and daughter, Catherine.