Katarina Karnéus

Mezzo-Soprano

Management

Helen Hogh
[email protected]

Fiona Wells
[email protected]

Representation:

  • - Worldwide

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.

This biography is for website use only. For a full and updated biography, please email [email protected]

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Reviews

  • Erwartung

    Karnéus expressed the mercurial fascination and power in the music, altering her articulation from phrase to phrase, and within lines, and shifting dynamics and emotional intensity with fluid, exact gradations. She was involved with the music, in touch with every fleeting feeling, from joy to jealousy to despair

    George Grella New York Classical Review
  • Erwartung

    Ms. Karneus, singing both with aching lyricism and silvery-edged intensity, gave a riveting performance.

    Anthony Tommasini The New York Times
  • Die Walküre

    Katarina Karnéus is outstanding as Fricka, and throughout the sharpest marriage of opera literature she destroys husband Wotan with her razor-sharp replicas.

    Lennart Bromander Aftonbladet
  • Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder

    Katarina Karnéus entered with a degree of authority and complete focus. From the first song – a beautiful song of love – Karnéus drew you into her world. On reaching the fourth and fifth songs Karnéus had created a serene sense of awe and subliminal unity. Her voice, always soft, made the packed hall sit in complete stillness. The audience were completely transfixed, floating in another world during the concluding song. A moment of complete silence fell as they contemplated the musical journey Karnéus had taken them on.

    Leighton Jones Bachtrack
  • Tristan und Isolde

    Katarina Karnéus sings Brangäne here for the first time: hers is a noble, compassionate presence, with an upper register flaring thrillingly in to pain and fear.

    Culture The Times

News

  • Katarina Karnéus appointed Court Singer by H.M. the King of Sweden
    11.06.18

    Katarina Karnéus appointed Court Singer by H.M. the King of Sweden

  • Katarina Karnéus to sing title role in Der Besuch Der Alten Dame at the Theater and der Wien
    09.02.18

    Katarina Karnéus to sing title role in Der Besuch Der Alten Dame at the Theater and der Wien

  • Katarina Karnéus to sing the title role in Norma for the Gothenburg Opera
    23.10.17

    Katarina Karnéus to sing the title role in Norma for the Gothenburg Opera

  • Katarina Karnéus to sing Fricka in Das Rheingold for NDR in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie
    24.04.17

    Katarina Karnéus to sing Fricka in Das Rheingold for NDR in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie

  • Lothar Koenigs to conduct Salome in Stuttgart with Katarina Karnéus as Herodias
    03.03.17

    Lothar Koenigs to conduct Salome in Stuttgart with Katarina Karnéus as Herodias

  • Rachel Nicholls to star as Isolde in Paris, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe
    22.04.16

    Rachel Nicholls to star as Isolde in Paris, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe