Katherine Kozak, Chorus Director

Chorus director, pianist, and coach Katherine Kozak has enjoyed affiliations with numerous companies throughout the U.S. Her most long-standing relationship is with the Glimmerglass Festival, where she is the current Chorus Director—2026 marks her 15th summer season with the Upstate New York company. Katherine’s work with the chorus can be heard on Château de Versailles Spectacles’ 2021 CD/DVD release of The Ghosts of Versailles, for which she also performed on celesta and piano.

Katherine arrived at Detroit Opera in the fall of 2025 directly from Arizona Opera, where, since 2022, she served as Head of Music, Chorus Director, and Principal Coach of the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio.

A deft and vivacious chorus director, Katherine notably garnered much acclaim with the Florida Grand Opera Chorus, with whom, up until the pandemic, she prepared approximately 20 productions. Under her direction, the chorus was hailed as “astutely balanced and exuberant,” “[singing] with power and majesty,” “outstanding,” and “vocally flawless.”

Katherine has a repertoire of over 90 complete operatic and musical-theater scores and has operated in nearly every music staff role. She has functioned as head coach, rehearsal pianist, recitalist, supertitle caller, recitative accompanist, assistant conductor, and administrator, and this wide range of abilities has brought her to the Dallas Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Colorado, and Central City Opera, among others. Notable conductors she has assisted include Richard Bonynge, Joseph Colaneri, John DeMain, and George Manahan.

In addition to her involvement in highly regarded young artist programs, she has helped develop singers at the university level. Appointments have included Associate Coach at The Juilliard School and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Miami.

Katherine holds an MM in vocal coaching and accompanying from the University of Illinois, where she was a student of John Wustman. She has enjoyed collaborating with singers since the young age of 11, when she began accompanying and touring with The Singing Angels, based in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.