Our people - Kathryn Smith

Irish and International Soprano and Voice Teacher Kathryn Smith, now living in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, is a native of Dublin and is one of Ireland’s most versatile and renowned performers. Her popularity as a voice teacher has also soared over the years and she finds herself in constant demand. Kathryn has been teaching voice at  The Leinster School of Music and Drama, Griffith College for over 20 years. She is also a Voice Tutor at the Music Department in NUIM Maynooth and the Seminary at St. Patrick's College Maynooth. She has brought many of her students to professional level, with a number of them receiving great acclaim throughout Ireland, the United States, The West End and The River Dance Companies. . She is the voice teacher of Lucy O’Byrne who recently scored great success in the final of the U.K. Voice, transmitted by the BBC. In recent years Kathryn has been invited to a number of High Schools and Colleges in the United States, to hold singing workshops and teach individual voice lessons, choral workshops etc.  She enjoys visiting annually where her knowledge and skills are greatly appreciated. Kathryn has enjoyed and is still enjoying a very successful performance career both in Ireland and internationally. She has a vast repertoire of opera, operetta, & oratorio to her credit and has performed many principal roles with major companies in Ireland,  the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong & Tokyo  Her concert career has also taken her to many parts of the Ireland and the world including performances at the prestigious Carnegie Hall N.Y., the Boston Symphony Hall, The State Theatre, New Jersey, to name but a few, as part of an American Tour of The Irish Ring Operas.  She has also enjoyed working with the Irish Director, Jim Sheridan, when she sang the Role of Aida in his enterprising production of ‘The Risen People’ at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin, where the Opera ‘Aida’ was doubled with the play. Kathryn has a broad range of recording experience, and throughout her career has recorded a variety of music with the RTE Philharmonic & Concert Orchestras. In 2002, Kathryn was awarded the Margaret Burke Sheridan Award for her contribution to Singing in Ireland, presented by the Vocal Heritage Society of Ireland.

The Cor Unum Singers

Kathryn is the Musical Director of the concert  choir,‘The Cor Unum Singers’ (One Heart), this group first got together to form the chorus of ‘The Great Waltz’ at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin, in which Kathryn played the principal role of Helene Vernet. The Choir then went from strength to strength and performed numerous times with the Artane Senior Band, for Jim Molloy Promotions at the NCH & more recently for the President at the Annual Garden Party. In recent years the choir have become very popular for corporate functions and various musical evenings. Kathryn is also Musical  Director of St. Patrick’s Church Choir, Celbridge, Co. Kildare where she enjoys expressing  her great love for sacred and liturgical music. She has recently returned from a number of concerts in France and the United States and has future plans to return later this year.