Soprano Katharine Dain performs opera, song, chamber music, orchestral repertoire, and oratorio on international stages. She is also a writer, a curator of unusual programs, and a probing collaborator on artistic projects of many kinds.
Her album Regards sur l’Infini (Messiaen, Delbos, Debussy, Dutilleux, and Saariaho) with pianist Sam Armstrong won the Edison Klassiek for Best Debut and was lavishly praised in the press: “fearless … beautifully controlled … exquisite” (Gramophone); “a stunning album … ecstatic pianism, stratospheric outbursts, sultry sighs and pure beauty … breathtaking” (NRC). The duo’s second album together, Forget This Night, featured works of Lili Boulanger, Karol Szymanowski, and Grażyna Bacewicz and was even more widely acclaimed. BBC Music Magazine named it CD of the Month in its category and called it “altogether a remarkable release: beautiful, intelligent and utterly heartfelt”.
Highlights of recent seasons include being named Artist-in-Residence with Finland’s Tapiola Sinfonietta; song recitals in Concertgebouw Amsterdam, De Doelen Rotterdam, and Concertgebouw Brugge; Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze) and Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, and Ecuador; appearances with the Dutch National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and BBC Scottish and Welsh Symphony Orchestras; and chamber music at numerous festivals throughout Europe and North America.
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Contessa Almaviva)
with the Orchestra of the 18th Century
Conductor: Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg
Director: Jorinde Keesmaat
with 8 performances throughout the Netherlands
Barzakh
an opera by Osama Abdulrasol (music), Thomas Bellinck (text), and contributions from writers currently incarcerated in the Belgian prison system
Conductor: Zoe Zeniodi
Director: Thomas Bellinck
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Antwerp, Belgium
Unsuk Chin: Akrostichon
with Asko|Schönberg
Conductor: Gregory Charette
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
JANUARY :: roasted tomato salsa. At this time last year, I went to Mexico for a much-needed break and a visit with my sister after a prolonged period of intense stress and overwork. It was an amazing trip. It was also the last time I could pretend to myself that my increasing anxiety was just...
Just after noon on November 6th, 2024, I beeped myself into the Ghent opera house and trudged up a flight of stairs with my head lowered, trying to hide my red eyes and puffy face. The previous day’s piano dress rehearsal had gone very well. Later, we’d had a farewell dinner for Amandine...
Sam and I couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic response to our second album together, Forget This Night. Two and a half years after first performing Lili Boulanger’s cycle Clairières dans le ciel together and knowing instantly that we had to record it, we were delighted that so m...
© Katharine Dain 2022