PSP's story


The Prairie Song Project is a trio featuring mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner, flutist Amy Morris and pianist Eric McEnaney.

Kathy and Amy share a love for music dating back to their college days at the University of Iowa. For years, Kathy and Amy talked of a collaboration that would celebrate their friendship, their love for their Midwestern roots, and the joy of music.  

Kathy and Amy embarked on a large-scale project that focuses on bringing the talents of Midwestern composers, writers and artists to American and international audiences.  

The trio has commissioned works by two composers. Rory Boyle, from Scotland, set the poetry of Nebraska author Ted Kooser. Peter Ash, originally from Iowa, and now living in London, chose words by Shakespeare combined with the poetry of Nebraska native Willa Cather.  

They proudly released their self-titled first album in September, 2014.

The Prairie Song Project presents concerts featuring more standard repertoire, and offers master classes at educational institutions.  

The Prairie Song Project is funded through grants, including grants from the Scottish Arts Council and A Very Small Arts Fund, and through donations.

The Musicians

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Photo: Travis Anderson Photography

Katharine Goeldner,
mezzo-soprano

Born and raised in Sigourney, Iowa, Katharine Goeldner has established an international reputation as one of today’s finest mezzo-sopranos. Her many roles at the Metropolitan Opera include Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann, and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She has brought her celebrated portrayal of Carmen to the Savonlinna Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and New York City Opera. She is also noted for her portrayal of the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, a role she has performed in Madrid, Salzburg, Oviedo, Toulouse, Lyon and Paris. Additional appearances include Welsh National Opera, Minnesota Opera, Dallas, Antwerp, Bilbao, Seville and Dresden, in repertoire which includes Gluck’s Orfeo, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Fricka (Das Rheingold), Waltraute (Götterdämmerung), Countess Geschwitz (Lulu), Gertrude (Hamlet), Erika (Vanessa) and Charlotte (Werther).

Katharine made her Covent Garden debut singing the mezzo role in the Royal Ballet production of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. She has performed as soloist with the Vienna Symphony, the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the American Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has been heard in recital at the Kennedy Center, the Mozart Festival in Salzburg, the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and Vienna’s Festival Ravel. Katharine has worked with many of the world’s leading conductors, including James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras, Seiji Ozawa, Edo de Waart, Valery Gergiev, Hans Graf, and Dennis Russell Davies. Her performances as Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann and as mezzo soloist in K.A. Hartmann’s Erste Sinfonie; Versuch eines Requiems (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) are available on DVD; and her CDs include Louis Spohr’s Die letzten Dinge, with Ivor Bolton and the Mozarteum Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Symphony led by Georges Prêtre.

Katharine maintains close ties to her home state, performing frequently with the Cedar Rapids Opera and Orchestra Iowa, and presenting recitals and master classes for Drake University, The University of Northern Iowa, and her alma mater, The University of Iowa.
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Photo: Travis Anderson Photography

Amy Morris,
Flute, piccolo, and Bass Flute

Amy Morris has an eclectic career encompassing orchestral and chamber music performing and teaching. She is the second flutist with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, with which she has played since 1997. Amy has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Mankato Symphony, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Rome Festival Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and the American Wind Symphony. In addition to The Prairie Song Project, Amy is a founding member of the Indånde trio (flute, oboe and piano), which released recordings in 2010 and 2014. She has been invited to perform for several conventions of the National Flute Association and the British Flute Society, and has released two solo CDs, Stories and Theme and Variations, and Music of Great Britain and the US with Indånde.

With grants from The Scottish Arts Council (Creative Scotland), Minnesota State Arts Board, A Very Small Arts Fund and the American Composers Forum, Amy has commissioned and performed music around the US and Europe. She is the flute instructor at Hamline and St. Catherine Universities in St. Paul. She holds performance degrees from The University of Iowa (BM) as a student of Betty Bang and Roger Mather and Northwestern University (MM) as a student of Walfrid Kujala. Amy was born, raised and received her first musical training in Omaha, Nebraska.

eric mcenaney,
Piano

Eric McEnaney enjoys a multifaceted career as one of the nation’s foremost opera pianists and vocal coaches. Known for his expertise in contemporary opera, Dr. McEnaney has assisted in the creative process of several revival productions and newly commissioned works, collaborating with distinguished composers Dominick Argento, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paul Moravec, Kevin Puts, Bright Sheng, and Robert Ward, among others. Young artist and professional singers frequently seek his knowledge of bel canto style, particularly in the operas of Donizetti, and Dr. McEnaney’s breadth of musical understanding and passion for opera education has garnered regular invitations to serve as guest lecturer for various companies’ performance previews. Twin Cities audiences often find him presenting innovative programs at the Ordway Center for the Arts in St. Paul as part of Minnesota Opera’s Opera Insights series.

As a recitalist, Dr. McEnaney has appeared with singers from the rosters of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera, among others.  His performances have been broadcast locally and nationally on Minnesota Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, Twin Cities Public Television, KSTP-TV's Twin Cities Live, and American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion.  He has assisted many of the most renowned vocal artists of our time in masterclasses and private sessions, including Christine Brewer, David Daniels, Elizabeth Futral, Denyce Graves, Marilyn Horne, Thomas Hampson, Frank Lopardo, Susanna Phillips, John Relyea, and Carol Vaness.  

Dr. McEnaney is an alumnus of young artist programs at Music Academy of the West, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Des Moines Metro Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and Minnesota Opera, where he worked four seasons as Resident Artist Coach/Accompanist.  He holds degrees in piano performance and collaborative piano from Eastern Illinois University, The University of Iowa, and the University of Minnesota, and divides his time between the cities of Minneapolis and Milwaukee.