“Van Kooten uses her refined and powerful soprano with feeling and intelligence, conveying Mimi’s bravery, passion and integrity in great emotional outpourings. Yet she also controls that force with artful delicacy and precise articulation in pianissimo passages conveying the heroine’s tender feelings, her fears and vulnerability.” Everett Evans, The Houston Chronicle

“Katie Van Kooten sumptuously and perfectly sings Mimì. She delivers powerful and standout vocals on Sì, mi chiamano Mimì, O soave fanciulla, and Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina!. Yet, it is her performance in Sono andanti? that fantastically and emotionally moves the audience and completes her masterful performance in the role. Mimì, as played by Katie Van Kooten, is fully realized and developed across all four acts, which makes her tragic end all the more impactful for the audience. As Rodolfo exclaims, “Mimì!” over her dead body, so does our hearts.” David Clarke from broadwayworld.com

“Vocally, the opera belongs to American soprano Katie Van Kooten…From the center of her weakness and disease-stricken palor, we hear and we sense, in a fresh way, her [Mimi’s] boundless love.” John Demers from houstonartsweek.wordpress.com

“Van Kooten blows the roof off the Wortham as imperious Liz, with a sumptuous voice that eats up Donizetti’s dramatic line with amazing agility and temperament. Last heard at HGO as a sympathetic Ellen in Britten’s shatteringly emotional Peter Grimes, this young American soprano is a revelation.” D.L. Groover from Houstonpress.com

“…a major operatic talent. Her singing has something of the same glow radiated by Te Kanawa or Freni, and her endearing charm and bright smile make her a winning stage personality.” The Daily Telegraph

“The rising young soprano Katie Van Kooten, an American who has made her career mainly in London, contributed a highly appealing Marguerite, offering a fluent, securely sung Jewel Song, graced by a good trill, and some nicely floated phrases in the Love Duet. She was also strong in projecting Marguerite’s anguish in the Church Scene.” The New York Times

“The role of schoolmistress Ellen Orford, Grimes’ only friend, could not be any more sensitively acted or exquisitely sung than it is here by Katie Van Kooten… With her radiant soprano and intense conviction, Van Kooten is ideal as the compassionate Ellen. She conveys the heartbreaking essence of the role, that her desperate effort to save Grimes is futile, as she at last realizes in her beautiful “Embroidery” aria.” Houston Chronicle

“Thus, Rosina’s aria, “Dove sono i bei momenti,” becomes a haunting lament, heightened by soprano Katie Van Kooten’s impeccable, soulful performance.” Kansas City Star

“Soprano Katie Van Kooten (Helena) in her HGO debut, delivered highly athletic and movingly sung portrayals of love, anger, disgust, incredulity, hopelessness and, by morning’s light, blissful relief.” Opera News

“Making her Hallé debut, she brought a rapt beauty to Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, the perfect vehicle for her lyrical yet dramatic voice. Her full, glowing tone soared remarkably easily over the orchestra and her innate feeling for a long phrase allowed the ecstasy and longing of the first two songs to unfold seamlessly… As for Van Kooten, she sounded unforced, unfettered, even – especially in “Frühling” – while showing no inclination to linger unnaturally over music that is already autumnal enough in its sense of elegiac valediction. Her voice seemed to blossom through each piece, radiating myriad colours, to the work’s shimmering end.” The Independent