In association with Black History Month, Karolyn Gholston will perform a voice recital with Wei-Yi Sun.
Karolyn Lee Gholston, soprano and adjunct instructor of voice at Kenyon, has earned a distinguished reputation for her operatic, concert, and recital work throughout Central Ohio and beyond. A native of Altoona, Pennsylvania, she received her B.A. in music performance from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and earned her M.M. in vocal performance and pedagogy from Ohio University.
In 2026, Gholston appeared as an artist in "The Voice of Freedom: From Harlem to Civil Rights," written by Destiny Coleman, and as a guest vocalist for the Delaware, Ohio Juneteenth Festival. In April 2026, she also composed and performed her original work, "They Told Us to Whisper," for The Journey at the Lincoln Theatre, curated by Destiny Coleman.
Her recent engagements also include serving as guest vocalist for the 51st CAMA Concert in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2025); appearing as a Voice of Freedom guest artist for the Melvin Van Peebles Symposium at Ohio Wesleyan University (2025); and performing as soprano soloist in Brahms’s "Ein deutsches Requiem" with Kenyon and the Knox County Symphony (2024).
Additional highlights include performing as a soprano vocalist in William Todd’s "Mass in Blue" at the 2023 Kentucky Blues & Jazz Festival with Capriccio Columbus and appearing as a guest solo artist with the Capriccio Jubilee Singers during their spring 2023 season. Gholston has also appeared as a guest vocalist in Opera Columbus productions of "The Journey, The Voice of Freedom, and The Voice of Freedom: Civil Rights," where she performed her original work, "Uncomfortable Conversations." She has been a featured guest vocalist for the Black Opera Alliance Gala and Capriccio Columbus’s Shout for Joy concert, as well as a soloist in Nathaniel Dett’s "The Chariot Jubilee."
Her operatic credits include La Ciesca in Opera Columbus’s "Gianni Schicchi;" Annie in Opera Columbus’s world-premiere workshop of "The Flood;" Kate Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly;" and Anna (Donna Anna) in Opera Columbus’s ten-performance production of "#UncleJohn," an adaptation of Mozart’s "Don Giovanni." She has also performed the Infirmary Nun in Opera Project Columbus’s "Suor Angelica;" Lucia in Nino Rota’s "I Due Timidi" with Opera Project Columbus; and Musetta in "La Bohème" in the first collaboration between Shadowbox Live and Opera Columbus, Opera on the Edge.
Additional roles include Musetta at the Firewater Arts Festival; Fiordiligi in "Così fan tutte" in Florence, Italy, with the Florence Voice Seminar; Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel;" and Minty Rabbit in Opera Columbus’s outreach and education performances.
Alongside her operatic, concert and solo work, Gholston is the creator of #Opsoul, her signature musical genre that fuses the expressive traditions of soul and contemporary music with operatic vocalism. She is also a published songwriter with a catalogue of more than 40 songs and an online content creator whose artistry bridges classical tradition, contemporary expression and original music.
Karolyn will continue her commitment to celebrating and elevating the works of Black composers through an upcoming guest recital at Kenyon College, featuring works by African American composers alongside a selection of her favorite operatic arias and art songs.