MEZZO-SOPRANO

Winner of the Ysgoloriaeth W. Towyn Roberts at the National Eisteddfod 2006, Katherine Allen read Music and English at Cardiff University, before furthering her studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

Other awards include the Laura Ashley Award, Llais Llwyfan Lambed, Sir Geraint Evans Prize, the Michael Head Prize for English Song and the MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year Award. She has participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, studying Brahms and Schumann Songs with Robert Holl, the Wexford Festival Opera Artists’ Development Programme with Dennis O’Neill and the Sommer Lied Weinberg with Roger Vignoles.

Operatic work has included Essential Scottish Opera, The Sandman / Hansel and Gretel for Opera Holland Park, Second Lady / Die Zauberflöte for the Oxford Philomusica, Tisbe / La cenerentola for Scottish Opera Go Round and Scottish Opera On Tour, Annina / Der Rosenkavalier in concert with Nicholas Braithwaite, Olga / Eugene Onegin for Iford Arts, Flora / La traviata for Scottish Opera and Wellgunde / Das Rheingold for Longborough Festival Opera.

Concert highlights have included the C.P.E. Bach Magnificat for the Ten Tors Orchestra, the Christmas Oratorio in Chichester Cathedral, the St John Passion at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, the Harmonie-Messe at the St Germans Festival, the Paukenmesse at Dartington Hall, Messiah for Raymond Gubbay at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Elijah with Sir Willard White at the Chichester Festivities and Dido / Dido and Aeneas at the Petersfield Festival, as well as recitals in the Crush Bar of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at the Aberystwyth Music Fest, the Swansea Festival and the Wales Millennium Centre. Her broadcasts and recordings include In Tune for BBC Radio 3 and Cecilia McDowall’s Laudate with the Orchestra Nova conducted by George Vass for Dutton CD.

Current engagements include Mercédès / Carmen for Scottish Opera On Tour, Carolina / Elegy for Young Lovers (Cover) for English National Opera, Cherubino / The Marriage of Figaro for Mid Wales Opera, Zulma / L’Italiana in Algeri for the Opéra de Limoges and at the Grand Théâtre du Provence, Aix-en-Provence, and J. S. Bach Magnificat at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester 2010.


Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.