Acclaimed for her rich, opulent voice, American mezzo-soprano Catherine Keen appears regularly with many of the most prestigious opera companies of North America and Europe. Trained as an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera, she has returned regularly to that company, showing off her versatility as an actress and as a musician, in a variety of roles including Fricka in Die Walküre, Giulietta in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Kundry in Parsifal, and Venus in Tannhäuser, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Magdalene in Die Meistersinger, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly.

Her international career was launched in performances of the title role of Samson et Dalila at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a role which she has performed subsequently at the Netherlands Opera. With that company she also has appeared in Luisa Miller, Otello and Wagner's Ring cycle.

Operatic engagements of recent seasons also have included Tannhäuser at the Royal Danish Opera, Luisa Miller with the Grand Théâtre de Genèvre, Samson et Dalila at the Florida Grand Opera and Washington National Opera, her Italian debut as Amneris in Aida and Fenena in Nabucco at the Arena di Verona, Aida with the Houston Grand Opera, and the role of Cornelia in Washington National Opera's presentation of Giulio Cesare.

Ms. Keen enjoys a rich collaborative relationship with the Cincinnati Symphony having performed a wide range of repertoire from de Falla's El Amor Brujo and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Schubert's Rosamunde. With the Cincinnati Symphony and James Conlon she has sung Mahler's Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde and she has assayed the role of Brangäne in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde under the direction of Jesus López-Cobos. With Donald Runnicles, she has sung Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Paris and Symphony No. 8 at the Edinburgh Festival, Minnesota and Dresden.

Most recently Ms. Keen performed the role of Kundry (opposite the Parsifal of Plácido Domingo) and Herodias in Salome at the Washington National Opera, Rigoletto and Samson et Dalila at San Francisco Opera, The Rape of Lucretia at Seville's Teatro de la Maestranza, Aida at the Hollywood Bowl, Die Walküre in Madrid, Samson et Dalila in Lithuania, and Madama Butterfly (which has recently been released on DVD) with the Netherlands Opera.