Kathryn Saulsbury

Kathryn Smalley Saulsbury, mezzo-soprano and collaborative pianist, has been teaching and coaching singers and pianists for over twenty-five years. She has a broad background in opera theatre and coach-accompanying, and has performed extensively as a collaborative artist. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, Kathryn worked as a coach-accompanist for Indianapolis Opera until she joined the faculty at Morningside University in 2004 and taught applied voice, vocal pedagogy, diction, and directed the Opera Theatre program. During her tenure at Morningside University, she became the founder and artistic director of the Morningside Institute for Performing Artists, a group of dedicated young professionals who performed across the region, and was the executive director for the Leo Kucinski Academy of Music. She also served as the president of both the Iowa Chapter of the National Teacher’s Association of Singing (NATS) and the Lewis and Clark Chapter of NATS, and served on the board of directors for the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, she performed with the Morningside University Choir for performances in Germany, Austria and Prague, which included an invited performance at the Dvorak Festival for an audience containing members of the Dvorak family.

Kathryn is currently Assistant Adjunct Professor of Voice at the University of Northern Iowa where her father, David Smalley, previously held a position on the voice faculty for thirty-five years and her mother, Joan Smalley, often performed as a collaborative pianist. Kathryn earned both her B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Northern Iowa.