Biography
Born in Stockholm, Katarina Karnéus studied at Trinity College of Music in London, and at the National Opera Studio. In 1995 she won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
She has worked with Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Roger Norrington, Antonio Pappano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst and Ivor Bolton.
Opera engagements have included Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival Opera with repertoire including the great mezzo roles of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Wagner and Strauss. She has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, NDR Symphony, Vienna Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and the Salzburg Festival.
As an acclaimed recitalist she has been heard in many major venues internationally including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lincoln Center New York, La Monnaie Brussels, Washington and San Francisco.
Recent and future concert engagements include performances with the Hallé, BBC NOW, BBC Symphony, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, New York Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica Castilla y Leon, Lonon Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonie, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, Netherlands Philharmonic, tours in Europe and the US with the San Francisco Symphony, performances at Wiener Kozerthaus, Baltic Sea Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms as well as recitals at the Concertgebouw, Stockholm Concert Hall and Wigmore Hall, London.
Recent and future operatic engagements include Ruggiero/Alcina in Gothenburg and Stuttgart, Orfeo / Orfeo ed Euridice, Erwartung / Schoenberg, Gertrude / Thomas’ Hamlet, Clytemnestra Elektra, Gefors’ Notorius, Santuzza / Cavalleria Rusticana, Fricka / Das Rheingold and Walküre, Nicklausse / Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Auntie / Peter Grimes as well as Norma in Gothenburg, Ariane et Barbe Bleu in Basel, Oper Frankfurt and for the Opera de Lyon, Donna Elvira for Covent Garden, Fricka at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Opera North, Brangäne in Stuttgart, Luxembourg and Gothenburg, Herodias / Salome in Stuttgart and for Opera North, Kundry / Parsifal for Opera North and Sister Helen / Dead Man Walking for Norwegian Opera, Kostelnicka in concert performances of Jenufa with the LSO under Sir Simon Rattle and with the Montreal Opera and at the Brno Festival.
Katarina Karnéus is a member of the Gothenburg Opera and acts as an international ambassador for the company. She was recently presented with the Litteris et Artibus medal by H.M. The King of Sweden.
