Dr. Mary Katherine Kelton, mezzo-soprano

Mary Katherine Kelton, mezzo-soprano, is Associate Professor of Music at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Kelton maintains an active and varied singing career, appearing frequently as a soloist and recitalist in an eclectic range of music, from chant to contemporary literature. Her solo work with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale has received critical acclaim. She has appeared as soloist with Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, the Nashville (Tennessee) Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Springfield (Missouri) Symphony, the Southeast Kansas Symphony, the Durango Symphony, and the Tuscaloosa Symphony, among others. Her solo appearances at festivals include the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Lake Placid International Vocal Seminar. Early Music groups with whom she has appeared include the Dayton Bach Society, Ensemble Ouabache, the Kansas Early Music Consort, and the Texas Early Music Project.

Dr. Kelton received the Doctor of Musical Arts and the Master of Music in Applied Voice from The University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a B. M. in Applied Voice and a B. S. in Education, both summa cum laude, from The University of Alabama, where she was awarded that institution's highest student accolade, the John F. Ramsey Award, for "outstanding scholarship, leadership, and broad humanistic interests." In 1991 she was one of the first recipients of a P. E. O. Scholar Award for dissertation research. She was selected to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program for young NATS teachers in 1993. She has received many awards for her singing, including being a two-time state winner of ther NATS Artist Award auditions and a two-time second place winner of the NATSAA regional auditions. In 1999 she won the Bel Canto Chorus (Milwaukee) Regional Artist Competition. She was named a national semi-finalist in the 1995 National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Award Competition, and in 1998, was the alternate for the voice finalist in the Mu Phi Epsilon International Artist Competition. She was the winner of the Young Artist Competition at the Salado (Texas) Festival in 1985.

A noted expert on the songs of American composer, Amy Beach, she has presented many recitals of Mrs. Beach's music throughout the United States and has had several articles published about Mrs. Beach's contribution to American Song Literature. In 1999, Dr. Kelton was the recipient of a Butler University Faculty Grant to record a compact disc of songs by Mrs. Beach. Other recent recordings include promotional materials for Hal Leonard and Lorenz Publishers and a CD that accompanies Dr. James Briscoe's Contemporary Anthology of Music by Women, published by Indiana University Press.

Dr. Kelton currently serves as the President of the Indiana Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She serves as the advisor to the Kappa Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon and is also an active member of Pi Kappa Lambda.

Prior to her appointment at Butler University in 1996, Dr. Kelton held teaching positions at Pittsburg (Kansas) State University and in the McAllen (Texas) Independent School District. She has also taught on the faculty of the Berkshire Choral Festival, Santa Fe, and has served as Diction Coach for the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.

Dr. Kelton has furthered her interest in German language, literature, and culture through studies at Goethe-Institutes in Berlin, Munich, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, funded in part through grants she received from the German Academic Exchange Service and Butler University. From January-August 2003, she will be teaching and doing research at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany and will present several recitals of American Music.

E-mail: kkelton@butler.edu