Kate has been in residence at TCO since the fall of 2024, and has performed Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Pamina in The Magic Flute. In April, she will sing Annina in La traviata at the Forum Theatre.
Kate Johnson made her role and house debut as the Fairy Godmother in Massenet’s Cendrillon at Cedar Rapids Opera in January 2025, and as Justice Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg at The Florentine Opera, where she was a 2025 Summer Studio Artist. She recently debuted at Opera Roanoke as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and at Finger Lakes Opera where she created the role of Sarah in the world premiere of Two Corners (Boykin/Lee), after having workshopped it at Cincinnati Opera. In 2023, she created the title role in the world premiere of Anne Frank (Ran/Kondek) at Indiana University Jacobs Opera Theater, where she also portrayed Sandrina in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Atalanta in Handel’s Xerxes, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.
In new opera workshops, she has created the dual leading roles of Shprintse/Rose in Tevye’s Daughters (Weiser/Fleischmann) for American Lyric Theater in New York. She has also created the role of Elaine in Zheng (Eshima/Asaro) at Opera San José and the role of Tina Onassis in La Callas (Borzoni/Coppinger) at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. She was a 2023 Studio Artist with Central City Opera and a 2021 Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera. A 2021–22 Fulbright Austria grant brought her to Vienna, where her work focused on the Lieder of Walter Bricht. A student of Heidi Grant Murphy, she earned a Master of Music and Performer Diploma in Voice at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
