Mezzo-soprano

Katie Bray

Biography

Winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize in Cardiff Singer of the World 2019, British mezzo-soprano Katie Bray has become known for her magnetic stage presence and gleaming, expressive tone. Her recent roles for Opera North include Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Varvara in Janáček’s Katya Kabanova, Louis XV Chair/Female Cat/Owl in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Lola in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring, and she has also sung for English National Opera (Philip Glass’s Akhnaten and Joanna Lee’s The Way Back Home), Scottish Opera (Lucilla in Rossini’s La scala di seta), Welsh National Opera (Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Garsington Opera (Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and Zaida in his Il turco in Italia), Opera Holland Park (Mallika in Delibes’s Lakmé), English Touring Opera (Zenobia Handel’s Radamisto, Minerva in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and Satirino in Cavalli’s La Calisto) and at the Grimeborn Festival (Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther). She also recently performed in Effigies of Wickedness, a staged cabaret of songs banned by the Nazis, at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, in collaboration with English National Opera. In concert she has performed in many prestigious venues, and she is particularly noted for her baroque repertoire. In addition to her Irish National Opera debut as Griselda, her 2019/20 season highlights include Eurinome in Conti’s L’Issipile under David Bates, Handel’s Messiah under Christoph Altstaedt and Bach’s St John Passion under Harry Bicket.