Kathryn’s postgraduate studies at Oxford (masters and doctorate in 20th-century music aesthetics) were supported by scholarships from Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville College and the British Overseas Research Council. Her subsequent studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (PG diploma in early music performance) were supported by an Arts Award from the Worshipful Company of Drapers of London and a Somerville Margaret Pollock Award.

Kathryn's singing teachers have included Cornelius Reid (New York), Dame Emma Kirkby (London) and her principal teacher was Guildhall professor Susan McCulloch. She has also taken further repertoire study under many musical luminaries, including Rudolf Jansen, Elly Ameling, Robin Bowman, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Tracey Dahl, Christina Mahler, and Stuart Hamilton.

Kathryn sang her London début recital at St John’s Smith Square in 2005. In 2008, she was named a peer assessor for Canada's highest national funding body, the Canada Council for the Arts.