Danya Katok, originally from State College, PA (currently located in Syracuse, NY), is a vibrant, young soprano whose shimmering vocal quality, excellent musicianship, and compelling stage presence have led her to burst onto the contemporary classical music scene. Her recent operatic credits include the title role in Barab's Little Red Riding Hood with Crested Butte Music Festival and Governess in Britten's haunting chamber opera, The Turn of the Screw. She has performed in several world premieres, including Hattie in the one-act opera, Overtones by David E. Chávez, Soloist in Ryan DeNardis' "Legs of Gold," a chamber piece for rock soloists, percussion, and double bass choir, and Soprano Soloist in Michael Strauss' oratorio, Sassafras Dawn," with members of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony.

In April 2009, Danya performed the title role in the Maryland premiere of Melissa Shiflett's chamber opera, Dora, based on Sigmund Freud's most infamous patient. This summer, she will be a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA where she will work with the Center's distinguished faculty in preparation for performances of Aaron Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson and Oliver Knussen's Requiem: Songs for Sue, among others. Danya recently completed her Master's Recital at the Peabody Conservatory (where she studied with Ah Hong and from which she graduated with an MM in Voice Performance & Pedagogy in May 2009), which featured works set to text other than poetry and included pieces by Juliana Hall, Francis Poulenc, Sergei Prokofiev, Leonard Bernstein, and Libby Larsen.

Danya's family emigrated from Russia in the 1970's and she is the first generation to be born and raised in the United States. She speaks Russian fluently and is always looking for ways to expand her repertoire of Russian art song. As an undergraduate at Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, she wrote her thesis on the development of the Russian art song and presented a recital featuring songs by Dargomyzhsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and popular Russian songwritier Tariverdiyev.

Danya has been the recipient of numerous prizes in competitions, including Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan National Council Auditions (Mid-Atlantic Region), Semi-Finalist in the Long Leaf Opera National Vocal Competition (Raleigh, NC), Winner of the Phyllis Bryn-Julson Prize for Commitment to and Performance of 20th/21st Century Music, Winner of the Baltimore Music Club Voice Competition (Senior Division), Finalist in the Vocal Arts Society Art Song Discovery Series Auditions (Washington D.C.), Finalist in the Civic Morning Musicals Competition for Voice (Syracuse, NY), Winner of the Ernst Bacon Prize for Best Performance of an American Art Song (Syracuse, NY), and Winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Student Achievement Award. She has also been awarded several grants including the Peabody Career Development Grant and the Schreyer Ambassador Travel Grant.

While completing her BA in Music at Penn State University, Danya took great pleasure in singing with two a cappella groups: Shades of Blue and The Pennharmonics. Both groups competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and with Shades of Blue, she was awarded the Outstanding Soloist prize two years in a row. Danya also earned a BA in Sociology while at Penn State and continues to nurture her love of learning by taking classes at Johns Hopkins University.