Catherine Carby

Leading Australian mezzo soprano Catherine Carby regularly performs with major opera companies including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Australia, Victoria State Opera, State Opera South Australia and Opera Queensland. A board member of Swap’ra UK (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera), Catherine is committed to achieving gender and pay equality in the opera industry.

This year Catherine returns to the Royal Opera House as Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel) and Siegrune (Die Walküre); to Longborough Festival Opera as Genevieve (Pelleas et Melisande); to ENO as Jade Bouchier (Dead Man Walking) and to Opera North as Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro) in addition to her many concert performances.

Catherine’s recent engagements have included a national tour of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Australian Chamber Orchestra; Gertrude (Hamlet: Dean) for Opera Australia; Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Teatro São Carlos, Lisbon; Idamante (Idomeneo) for Victorian Opera, Waltraute (Die Götterdämmerung) for Longborough Festival Opera, Malcolm (La Donna del Lago) for Buxton International Festival; Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito) for National Opera Company, Canberra; title role in Cherubini’s Médée, Penelope (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse) for Pinchgut Opera; Wellgunde (Das Rheingold) with the Sydney Symphony and Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

On the concert platform she has been heard with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gardner Chamber Orchestra Boston, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Her recordings include The Mountebanks (with the BBC Singers), Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley, Satanella, The Love for Three Oranges, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Der Rosenkavalier for Opera Australia and The Royal Opera’s Die Walküre (Siegrune).

Bio Updated September 2025