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

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

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 to 2001 and BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff in 2003) is a competition for Classical music, classical singers held every two years. The competition wa ...

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

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

and the

Paris Opera 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 kn ...

, and named Hovsångerska by the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...

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, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

;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, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

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 of Great Britain, 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 ...

also in London, sponsored by the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

. At her audition for London Opera Studio course, the general manager of Welsh National Opera arranged for her to join a tour of '' Cenerentola'' 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 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (known as Cardiff Singer of the World from 1983 to 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 ...

competition in 1995, which immediately launched an international career. The years following saw her appear as the page in ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'' 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 (Ostrovsky), The Storm'' ...

'' 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 Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

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 N ...

. 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: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...

'', Siebel in ''

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

'', Cherubino in ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), 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 premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'', and Rosina in ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy '' ...

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

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. 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. Mozart completed the work in the midst of composing ''Die Zauberfl ...

''. 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 (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

''. She worked with her teacher

Noelle Barker Noelle Barker OBE (28 December 1928 – 15 May 2013) was an English soprano singer and singing teacher. She was considered one of the most outstanding singing teachers of her generation.

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 Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...

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

The Göteborg Opera The Gothenburg opera house () 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 Gothenburg opera house is re ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. Her debut at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), 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 (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

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 kn ...

(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 ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'');

(Octavian, Sesto, Angelina in ''

La Cenerentola ("Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant") is an operatic 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'' with music by Nico ...

'', Rosina, Cherubino, and the title role of Gluck's ''

Orfeo ed Euridice (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...

''); 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's elopement with Paris (mythology ...

'' and Sesto in ''

Giulio Cesare ''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'' (; ; HWV 17), commonly known as , 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 Nicola Francesco Haym ...

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

the Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in London, the

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Festivals, a concert at the

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, 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 r ...

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 was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After cond ...

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

's ''

La mort de Cléopâtre The French composer Hector Berlioz made four attempts at winning the Prix de Rome music prize, finally succeeding in 1830. As part of the competition, he had to write a cantata to a text set by the examiners. Berlioz's efforts to win the prize are ...

'' in the

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

Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-century classical music, ...

's ''

Gurrelieder ' (''Songs of Gurre'') is a tripartite oratorio followed by a melodramatic epilogue for five vocal soloists, narrator, three choruses, and grand orchestra. The work, which is based on an early song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano, was comp ...

'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and Elgar's ''

The Dream of Gerontius ''The Dream of Gerontius'', Opus number, Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from The Dream of Gerontius (poem), the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man' ...

'' in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

. She has appeared regularly in recital at London's

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

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 ...

in 2001, and has given solo recitals in Brussels and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In 2010, she was a soloist at the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

award ceremony where she performed "Amour vient rendre à mon âme" from Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' (

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 Stålboga Summer Opera (Swedish: Stålboga sommaropera) is an annual event staged at the privately owned Stålboga Manor House on a small peninsula in the lake Eklången 35 kilometers from Eskilstuna and 100 kilometers from Stockholm, Sweden. Mill ...

. 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 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

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 History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'', 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 ''La Ville morte'' is an opera by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno to the text of Gabriele D'Annunzio's play . It has been called Boulanger's "most significant achievement as a creative artist". History After hearing her examinations at the Cons ...

'' 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 (), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in ...

, 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 Spar ...

, 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, ...

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 3 September 1965) is a German horn player and principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic. Biography Born in Münster, Dohr obtained the Solo Horn position of the Frankfurt Opera House at the age of 19. He held the same posit ...

, and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

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 The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as t ...

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) *Fr ...

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 I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plur ...

'' (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 global database for audiences and professionals. It lists details on opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers as well as their agents. It was founded in 1996 by English software engineer and opera love ...

* {{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