Katalin Károlyi

Mezzo-soprano

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• Repertoire
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  Born in Hungary, Katalin Károlyi studied singing with Noëlle Barker and Julia Hamari. She went on to set up Studio Versailles Opéra with Rachel Yakar and René Jacobs. Other conductors she has worked with include Yehudi Menuhin, William Christie, Phillip Herreweghe and David Robertson.

  Opera productions include performances at the Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Festwochen, Almeida Opera and the Festival d’Aix en Provence. She has also appeared at Ravinia Festival Chicago, Salzburg Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Barbican Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, BBC Proms and Cité de la Musique.

  She frequently appears with ensembles including Ictus, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Amadinda, Asko-Schoenberg, Musikfabrik, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and Seoul Philharmonic. She has had numerous works composed for her including Ligeti’s Sippal, Dobbal, Nádihegedüvel which she has given frequent performances of, as well as a recording for Teldec Classics.

  Katalin Károlyi is represented worldwide by Ralph Blackbourn at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • The Importance of Being Earnest
    Barbican Hall, 27 April 2012

    Spat into a megaphone, declaimed, chanted, barked out in German, split into hiccuping clusters of mis-stressed syllables, whooping in and out of falsetto (Bloom) or pirouetting in the stratosphere (Hannigan), the singing of the cast is impeccable. The most confident, volatile comic opera for a decade, Earnest demands a full staging.

    Anna Picard, The Independent

    When Barbara Hannigan's Cecily and Katalin Károlyi's Gwendolen argue over tea and muffins about which of them is engaged to Ernest...they communicate through megaphones, accompanied by one of the orchestra's percussionists solemnly smashing a series of dinner plates...It's all ferociously difficult to sing and play, but the performance under Adès seemed staggeringly good.

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

    Barbara Hannigan and Katalin Karolyi sparred sensationally as Cecily and Gwendolen

    Barry Millington, The Evening Standard

    The acidic meeting between Barbara Hannigan’s cool-as-her-cucumber-sandwiches Cecily and Katalin Károlyi’s tremulous Gwendolen is accompanied by a virtuoso smashing of dinner plates (40 of them, one after another) by the percussionist, followed by pistol shots.

    Richard Morrison, The Times

• Katalin Károlyi’s Concert Repertoire

  ANDRIESSEN

  • De Staat

  BACH

  • Magnificat
  • Weihnachts - Oratorium
  • Johannes - Passion
  • Matthäus - Passion
  • Messe in h - Moll
  • Motetten

  BARTÓK

  • Dorfszenen
  • Nyolc magyar népdal
  • (Five Hungarian Songs)

  BEETHOVEN

  • Missa Solemnis

  BERIO

  • Sequenza III
  • Cercles
  • Calmo
  • Folk Songs
  • Weill-songs
  • Beatles-songs

  BENJAMIN

  • Into the Little Hill*

  BOUCHOT

  • Unser Leben ist ein Shatten

  BRAHMS

  • Zigeunerlieder
  • Liebeslieder
  • Zwei gesänge

  BROWN

  • Windsor Jambs

  CAGE

  • A Flower
  • She is a Sleep
  • Forever and Sunsmell
  • The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs

  CHARPENTIER

  • Historia Esther

  DE FALLA

  • Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas

  DUKAY

  • Mist hovering over the face of the deep
  • - evening version - WP

  DVORAK

  • Stabat Mater

  ESTERHÁZY

  • Harmonia Caelestis

  FINNISSI

  • Ngano

  HANDEL

  • Messiah

  HARVEY

  • One Evening

  JENEY

  • Halotti szertartás - WP
  • (Funeral Rite)
  • Psaume 5. - WP

  KURTÁG

  • Eszká
  • What is the Word
  • Two Beckett songs

  LIGETI

  • Síppal, dobbal,nádihegedűvel - WP
  • Aventures / Nouvelles Aventures

  LISZT

  • Via crucis

  MAHLER

  • Kindertotenlieder

  MANTOVANI

  • La Morte Meditata

  MESSIAEN

  • Cinq rechants

  MOZART

  • Requiem

  MUSSEAU

  • Amis mots

  PERGOLESI

  • Stabat Mater

  PURCELL

  • The Welcome Song 1683

  RACHMANINOV

  • Vespers

  RAVEL

  • Sheherezade

  REICH

  • Tehillim
  • Music for 18 Musicians
  • Drumming

  RIEBEL

  • Hamadun

  SÁRY

  • Miniatűrök
  • Invokáció

  SCARLATTI

  • Oratorio de San Filippo Neri

  SCELSI

  • ckckc I-II

  SCIARRINO

  • Infinito Nero

  SCHÖNBERG

  • Pierrot lunaire*

  SCHUBERT

  • Ständchen D 920

  VAN DE PUTTE

  • Addiemento - WP

  VIVALDI

  • Gloria

  WOOLRICH

  • The Sea and its Shore - WP

  WOLF / GRISEY

  • Wolf Lieder

  WP

  • Indicates that Katalin Károlyi has given the World Premiere of this work

  *

  • Indicates work 'in preparation'

  Katalin Károlyi’s Opera Repertoire

  BARRY

  • The Importance of Being Earnest (Gwendolen) - WP

  BARTÓK

  • A Kékszakállú herceg vára (Judit)
  • (Bluebeard's Castle)

  BIZET

  • Carmen (Carmen)

  CHARPENTIER

  • Médée (Bellone, Deuxième Fantôme)
  • La descente d’Orphée aux Enfers (Aréthuze)
  • Les Plaisirs de Versailles (La Conversation)
  • Les Arts Florissants (L'Architecture)

  DONATONI

  • Alfred, Alfred (Eleonor) - WP

  GLUCK

  • Orfeo ed Eurydice (Orfeo)

  KYRIAKIDES

  • An Ocean of Rain (Cairo) - WP

  LANDI

  • Il Sant’Alessio (Nutrice)

  LIGETI

  • Aventures / Nouvelles Aventures
  • Le Grand Macabre (Amando)*

  MONTEVERDI

  • Il ritorno d’Ulisse (Fortuna/Melanto/Penelope)
  • L'Orfeo (La Messaggera)

  MOZART

  • Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino)
  • Die Zauberflöte (Zweite, Dritte Dame)

  MUSSORGSKY

  • Boris Godunov (Fyodor)

  PERI

  • Euridice (Euridice)

  POULENC

  • Dialogues des Carmélites (Mère Marie)*

  RAMEAU

  • Hippolyte et Aricie (Oenone)

  ROSSINI

  • Comte Ory (Isoliero)
  • La Cenerentola (Cenerentola)

  SCIARRINO

  • Infinito Nero (Maria Maddalena de Pazzi)

  STRAVINSKY

  • The Rake’s Progress (Baba the Turk)*

  STRAUSS

  • Elektra (Zweite Magd)

  TARANU

  • Oreste et Oedipe (Electra) - WP

  TCHAIKOVSKY

  • Eugene Onegin (Olga)

  VERDI

  • Rigoletto (Magdalena)

  VIVALDI

  • La Senna Festeggiante (La Virtú)

  WOOLRICH

  • The Sea and its Shore - WP

  WP

  • Indicates that Katalin Károlyi has given the World Premiere of this work

  *

  • Indicates that this work is 'in preparation'

• Photos

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    Photographer credit: Csáti Foto

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    Photographer credit: Csáti Foto

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