Praised as 'vocally and dramatically powerful' by the Washington Post and 'radiant' by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Vietnamese-American soprano Linh Kauffman enjoys an active career in opera, oratorio, new music, and recital. She made her Latin American debut as Melia in Mozart's Apollo et Hyacinthus at the Teatro Nacional de Panama. She recently made her Minnesota Opera debut as Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos. She was a festival artist the Oregon Bach Festival, soloing under Helmuth Rilling in Mendelssohn's Elijah, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and in lecture concerts of Bach's Mass in B Minor for the festival's Digital Bach Project, as well as scenes from Britten's Peter Grimes and Hymn to St. Cecilia under the baton of Matthew Halls.

Ms. Kauffman sang the Minnesota Orchestra's 2014-15 season-opening concerts of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Panama Early Music Festival with Spain's Forma Antiqva, concerts with the Minnesota Bach Ensemble and the title role in Handel's Esther with Lyra Baroque Orchestra.

Highlights of recent seasons include solos with Minnesota Orchestra (Arvo Pärt's Como cierva sedienta with Osmo Vänska), the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (McMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross), the Akron Symphony (Haydn's The Seasons) and the Richmond Symphony (St. Matthew Passion). She toured Germany as the choral soloist in Sven-David Sändstrom's Messiah at the Rheingau Festival, Berlin Philharmonie, and on German radio and appeared with the Festival Ensemble Stuttgart in Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music. She has twice been a young artist at the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, working with Ton Koopman on Handel choral works and Maestro Rilling on Haydn's Creation. She performed Tarik O'Regan's cantata The Ecstasies Above with the Alchemy Ensemble, the Angel in Respighi's Lauda per la Nativit' del Signore and Stravinsky's Mass with the Bach Chamber Players of St. Paul, and Carmina Burana with the Oratorio Society of Minnesota.

An active oratorio soloist, Ms. Kauffman has sung Bach's St. Matthew Passion for the University of Minnesota Bach Festival; Bach's Magnificat, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri with the Bach Chamber Players of St. Paul; Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Ascension Oratorio and numerous cantatas with the Bach Society of Minnesota; Roman motets with Consortium Carissimi; and Handel's Judas Maccabaeus and Semele, Vivaldi's Gloria and Orff's Carmina Burana with California Chamber Symphony and the San Francisco City Chorus.

Recent operatic appearances include Aspasia in Mitridate for Metamorphosis Opera Theater, the title role in Pocahontas: Woman of Two Worlds for Duluth Festival Opera, The Governess (Turn of the Screw) and the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) with the University of Minnesota Opera Theatre, the title role in Handel's Acis and Galatea with Berkeley Opera and Maria in West Side Story at Sierra Repertory Theatre. Other roles include Pamina and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and Elvira (Italian Girl in Algiers) and productions with Opera Vivente, West Bay Opera, Pocket Opera, and Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre.

An accomplished chamber musician of both early and contemporary music, Kauffman has appeared with Spire Chamber Ensemble, Seraphic Fire, Portland Baroque, the Rose Ensemble, and Piffaro. Ms. Kauffman has sung works by Stockhausen and Cage, operas by Holst, Weill, and Zemlinsky, and the first staged production of Bowles' A Picnic Cantata. She gave a reading of Hector Armienta's new opera River of Women/Rio de Mujeres for San Francisco Opera's Opera Viva! residency program, and went on to create the role of Elisa in the world premiere. She also created the principal role of Teenage Aileen in the world premiere of Carla Lucero's Wuornos and was seen in The Mistress Cycle at TheatreWorks as part of its New Works Festival.

Ms. Kauffman's growing discography includes Jocelyn Hagen's Songs of Fields and Prairies, Aaron David Miller's Clamor for organ, voice and percussion, and a forthcoming recording project of baroque oratorios and cantatas by Carissimi and Graziani with Consortium Carissimi for Naxos. She can be heard as the second soprano soloist in Haydn's Heiligmesse for H'nssler Classic with Helmuth Rilling.

A native of Connecticut, Ms. Kauffman earned music degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Maryland, and completed her Doctorate as a Berneking Scholar at the University of Minnesota. She also holds the Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy from the Schuessler Vocal Arts Center of the University of Minnesota. She was the winner of the 2007 Voices of Vienna Vocal Prize Competition and studied with Edda Moser at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in the summer of 2007. Ms. Kauffman is based in Minneapolis and with current and former members of the Minnesota Orchestra, is a founding member of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble.


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