Kathryn Whitney was born in Alberta and raised on Vancouver Island, and she now divides her time between Britain and Canada. She began her musical studies at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in Canada, and holds a BA in Music and German from the University of Toronto, a masters and doctorate in music aesthetics from the University of Oxford and a Postgraduate Performance Diploma in Singing from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England.

Upon finishing her Guildhall diploma in 2001, Kathryn was elected to the prestigious Wolfson Creative Arts Fellowship at the University of Oxford, a position that made her Artist in Residence at the college and generously supported her further professional development for a period of three years. As Wolfson Creative Arts Fellow, Kathryn gave a series of solo concerts and lecture-recitals in Oxford, recorded her first solo recital disk, completed three international recital