Katarina Esmé Marie Karnéus (born 26 November 1965) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer, winner of the

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (known as Cardiff Singer of the World from 1983–2001 and BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff in 2003) is a competition for classical singers held every two years. The competition was started by BBC ...

, active on many of the opera world's major stages such as the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

and the Paris Opera, and named Hovsångerska by the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument ...

in 2018.

Life and career

Karnéus was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

;Macy, Laura Williams (ed.) (2008). "Karnéus. Katrina". '' The Grove Book of Opera Singers'', pp. 244-245. Oxford University Press. her mother is English, who after having spent 30 years in Sweden returned to England in 1987. Oliver, Michael. Learning, watching and listening (interview with Katerina Karnéus). ''International Opera Collector'', Summer 1999, p28-29. She studied at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

in London, where her appearances included ''Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot'' (Maxwell Davies) and Thérèse (Tavener), and after at the

National Opera Studio The National Opera Studio in London, England was established in 1977 by the Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until 2003, when it gained use for t ...

also in London, sponsored by the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

. At her audition for London Opera Studio course, the general manager of Welsh National Opera arranged for her to join a tour of ''

Cenerentola ' (''Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant'') is an operatic '' dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera '' Cendrillon' ...

'' around small theatres in Wales. However, when a principal on the main company tour was taken ill she sang Rossini’s title role for them in the full staging at a few days notice. She won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1995, which immediately launched an international career. The years following saw her appear as the page in '' Salome'' in Chicago, Varvara in ''

Káťa Kabanová ''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on '' The Storm'', a play by Alexander ...

'' in New York, Dorabella at Glyndebourne, Rosina at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

in Paris and Mercédès in ''Carmen'' at the

Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris Nat ...

. She made her debut at the

on 2 January 1999, singing Varvara in ''Káťa Kabanová'' and went on to sing there as Olga in ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'', Siebel in ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'', Cherubino in ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'', and Rosina in ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...

''. In 1999 she also made her debut at the

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

singing Annio in ''

La clemenza di Tito ' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last o ...

''. She returned to Bayerische Staatsoper in 2000 for Sesto in the same opera and again in 2001 for Sesto and Dorabella in '' Così fan tutte''. She worked with her teacher Noelle Barker in 1999 in preparation for her first Octavian in ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...

'', at Cardiff in June 2000. Karnéus' breakthrough in her native Sweden was in 2002 singing Octavian at

The Göteborg Opera The Gothenburg opera house ( sv, Göteborgsoperan) is an opera house at Lilla Bommen in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Artistic Director for opera is Henning Ruhe since 2019, while Katrín Hall leads the ballet and dance company. History The Gothenbu ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. Her debut at the

Royal Opera Stockholm Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

had to wait until 2009, when she sang the title role in Handel's opera '' Xerxes''. Her other appearances on the opera stage have included

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

in Brussels and the

Netherlands Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

(Cherubino);

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

(Dorabella); the

Opéra National de Paris The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

(Dorabella and Meg Page in ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

''); the

(Rosina and the title role in '' Carmen'');

(Octavian, Sesto, Angelina in ''

La Cenerentola ' ('' Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera ''Cendrillon'' ...

'', Rosina, Cherubino, and the title role of Gluck's '' Orfeo ed Euridice''); and the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

in Paris (the title role in ''

La Belle Hélène ''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy, Helen's elopement with Paris (myt ...

'' and Sesto in ''

Giulio Cesare ''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'' (; , HWV 17), commonly known as ''Giulio Cesare'', is a dramma per musica (''opera seria'') in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The libretto was written by Nic ...

''). Karnéus is also internationally active as a concert and recital singer. Engagements have included

the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

in London, the

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Festivals, a concert at the

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

with

Franz Welser-Möst Franz Leopold Maria Möst (born 16 August 1960), known professionally as Franz Welser-Möst, is an Austrian conductor. He is currently music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. Biography Franz Leopold Maria Möst was born in Linz, Austria, ...

, concerts with Seiji Ozawa in

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

, Berlioz's '' La mort de Cléopâtre'' in the

Amsterdam Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

, Schoenberg's ''

Gurrelieder ' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", re ...

'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

and Elgar's ''

The Dream of Gerontius ''The Dream of Gerontius'', Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment b ...

'' in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. She has appeared regularly in recital at London's

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

since 1995, made her New York recital debut at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in 2001, and has given solo recitals in Brussels and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 2010, she was a soloist at the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

award ceremony where she performed "Amour vient rendre à mon âme" from Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' ( Berlioz version) and "Non più mesta" from Rossini's ''La Cenerentola''. Karnéus was engaged by

for a five-year period starting with the 2012-2013 season. In the summers of 2013 and 2014 Karnéus performed at Stålboga Summer Opera. She lives in

Lidingö Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...

near Stockholm, Sweden. In September 2015, she sang in the premiere of '' Notorious'' at the Göteborg Opera,Warwick Thompson. Report from Sweden. ''

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

'', December 2015, Vol 66 No 12, 1573-75. and in 2020 took the role of Hebé in only the second production of '' La ville morte'' by Boulanger in a concert staging also in Göteborg.Coughlan, Alexandra. Report from Gothenburg, Sweden. ''

'', June 2020, Vol.71, No.6 p742-743. In May 2021, Karnéus was one of 10 new members elected to the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( sv, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Ferdin ...

, alongside Marika Field,

Richard Sparks Richard Andrew Sparks (born August 29, 1950) is an American choral conductor. He is one of the leading figures in choral music in the Pacific Northwest and in Scandinavian, especially Swedish a cappella, choral music. Early life and education Spa ...

, Jonas Knutsson, Sten Sandell,

Đuro Živković Đuro Živković, also rendered as Djuro Zivkovic ( Serbian Cyrillic: Ђуро Живковић; born 1975), is a Serbian-Swedish composer and violinist. He has lived in Stockholm, Sweden, since 2000. Biography Živković was born in Belgrade, wh ...

Keiko Abe is a Japanese composer and marimba player. She has been a primary figure in the development of the marimba, in terms of expanding both technique and repertoire, and through her collaboration with the Yamaha Corporation, developed the modern fiv ...

, Giancarlo Andretta,

Stefan Dohr Stefan Dohr (born September 3, 1965 in Münster) is a German horn player and currently the principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Berliner Philharmoniker). Apart from being a sought-after masterclass teacher, he teaches the horn at t ...

, and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Awards and stipends

* 1992/93: received the Opera Magazine (Swedish: ''Tidskriften Opera'') award * 1994: received the Christine Nilsson Stipend from the

* 1995: won the biennial

* 2010: won the

Grammy Award for Best Classical Album The Grammy Award for Best Classical Album was awarded from 1962 to 2011. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1962 to 1963, 1965 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976 the award was known as Album of the Year – Classical *In 1964 and 1977 it wa ...

and the

Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance The Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time: *In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral (including oratorio) *Fro ...

with Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (mezzo soloist); (San Francisco Symphony 60021) with Adagio From Symphony No. 10.

Discography

* ''Lieder''. R. Strauss, Mahler, Marx. EMI Classics 7243 5 73168 2 8 731682 * ''Songs of Sibelius''. Hyperion CDA 67318. * ''Grieg songs''. Hyperion CDA67670. * Szymanowski, Karol: ''Songs of a fairy-tale princess''. EMI Classics 0946 3 64435 2 2. * Debussy: ''Syrinx ; ''Bilitis'' ; ''La plus que lente''. Ravel, ''Chansons madécasses'' (Katarina Karnéus). Prokofiev, ''Flute sonata''. EMI 7243 5 56982 2 3 569822 * Schreker, Franz: ''Orchestral works''. Vol. 2. Fünf Gesänge: Ur Tusen och en natt, text E. Ronsperger. Chandos CHAN 9951. Svensk mediedatabas. * Mahler: ''Orchestral songs''. BIS BISSACD 1600. * Berlioz: '' Les Nuits d'Été'' & ''overtures Le corsaire'', ''Le carnaval romain overture'', ''La roi Lear overture''. BBC Philharmonic. Dir. Vassily Sinaisky. BBC Records.BBC CD: MM92. * Beethoven: ''Symphony No. 9''. Neal Davies, Helena Juntunen, Katarina Karneus, Minnesota Chorale and Minnesota Orchestra. Dir. Osmo Vänskä. BIS SACD1616. * Mercadante: '' I Normanni a Parigi'' (Highlights). Philharmonia Orchestra. Dir. Stuart Stradford. Opera Rara. ORR249. * Donizetti: ''Rita (Deux hommes et une femme)''. The Hallé. Dir. Sir Mark Elder. Opera Rara ORC50.

References

External links

* *
Katarina Karnéus

Operabase Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sc ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karneus, Katarina 1965 births Living people Swedish operatic mezzo-sopranos Singers from Stockholm 21st-century Swedish women opera singers Swedish people of English descent 20th-century Swedish women opera singers