Katie Manukyan is an operatic soprano based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2016, she was selected as a "Major Artist" by the Pittsburgh Concert Society. In the summer of 2022, Katie produced and performed in a Concert of Ukrainian Words and Music with the University of Pittsburgh's Summer Language Institute and Department of Music and benefitting Razom for Ukraine and the Kyiv School of Economics. A recording of the event is available on Youtube. Please consider donating to the Ukrainian relief effort or defense if you appreciate this artistic content, which is rarely presented in the US. In addition, high quality downloads of the full program of songs and poetry are available for any size donation to the Summer Language Institute's ongoing fundraiser for Ukraine TrustChain, an organization which aids and evacuates Ukrainians near the front lines.
Katie specializes in Slavic repertoire and in recent years has sung the roles of Volkhova (Sadko) and Gorislava (Ruslan and Ludmila) with Opera Bel Cantanti and Tatiana (Eugene Onegin) in concert at Bellefield Hall with Undercroft Opera in a production for which she also served as primary diction coach and co-producer. Other roles that Katie has performed in Pittsburgh and beyond include: Butterfly (Madama Butterfly); Zdenka (Arabella); Angelica (Suor Angelica); Pamina (The Magic Flute); Sacerdotessa (Aida); Winnie Blocker (world premiere of Gilda Lyons's A New Kind of Fallout); Micaela (Carmen); Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi); Monica (The Medium); Mabel (Pirates of Penzance); and Gloria Thorpe (Damn Yankees).
In addition to opera, Katie treasures the art song repertoire and has enjoyed presenting art songs by many composers and in multiple languages over the years. This July she will sing a concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergey Rachmaninoff as a part of the Exploring the Piano series at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the campus of University of Pittsburgh. Other recent recital performances Katie has given have been dedicated to Clause Debussy, Enrique Granados, Komitas Vardapet, Déodat de Séverac, and Vasily Kalinnikov.
Katie received musical training at Northwestern University, Tchaikovsky Musical College-Conservatory in Moscow, and The Ohio State University. She embarked upon her opera career with the support of the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh as a prize winner in its "Opera Champion of Pittsburgh" competition in 2011, the same year that she received her doctoral degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures. She has sung Slavic repertoire in Russian, Polish, Czech, and Ukrainian languages at a wide range of functions including, memorably, the 2014 visit of the former first lady of Poland, Danuta Wałęsa, to Pittsburgh and the homecoming reception of the Russian Para-Olympic team in Moscow after the 2004 Games. Since 2011 Katie has been on the faculty of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches Russian and Russian literature and is the Managing Director of the Slavic, East European, and Near Eastern Summer Language Institute. She has published on opera and singing diction and enjoys combining her academic and musical interests in her performances and teaching.
Katie specializes in Slavic repertoire and in recent years has sung the roles of Volkhova (Sadko) and Gorislava (Ruslan and Ludmila) with Opera Bel Cantanti and Tatiana (Eugene Onegin) in concert at Bellefield Hall with Undercroft Opera in a production for which she also served as primary diction coach and co-producer. Other roles that Katie has performed in Pittsburgh and beyond include: Butterfly (Madama Butterfly); Zdenka (Arabella); Angelica (Suor Angelica); Pamina (The Magic Flute); Sacerdotessa (Aida); Winnie Blocker (world premiere of Gilda Lyons's A New Kind of Fallout); Micaela (Carmen); Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi); Monica (The Medium); Mabel (Pirates of Penzance); and Gloria Thorpe (Damn Yankees).
In addition to opera, Katie treasures the art song repertoire and has enjoyed presenting art songs by many composers and in multiple languages over the years. This July she will sing a concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergey Rachmaninoff as a part of the Exploring the Piano series at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the campus of University of Pittsburgh. Other recent recital performances Katie has given have been dedicated to Clause Debussy, Enrique Granados, Komitas Vardapet, Déodat de Séverac, and Vasily Kalinnikov.
Katie received musical training at Northwestern University, Tchaikovsky Musical College-Conservatory in Moscow, and The Ohio State University. She embarked upon her opera career with the support of the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh as a prize winner in its "Opera Champion of Pittsburgh" competition in 2011, the same year that she received her doctoral degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures. She has sung Slavic repertoire in Russian, Polish, Czech, and Ukrainian languages at a wide range of functions including, memorably, the 2014 visit of the former first lady of Poland, Danuta Wałęsa, to Pittsburgh and the homecoming reception of the Russian Para-Olympic team in Moscow after the 2004 Games. Since 2011 Katie has been on the faculty of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches Russian and Russian literature and is the Managing Director of the Slavic, East European, and Near Eastern Summer Language Institute. She has published on opera and singing diction and enjoys combining her academic and musical interests in her performances and teaching.