BIOGRAPHY

In Australia she has performed with the major opera companies including the Victoria State Opera, Opera Australia, OzOpera and Opera Queensland in roles which include Mallika (Lakmé), Flora (La traviata), Carmen and Mercedes (Carmen), Jano (Jenůfa), Valetto (The Coronation of Poppea), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Bersi (Andrea Chénier), Second Lady (The Magic Flute), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Countess Geschwitz (Lulu), for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award, Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Smeraldina (The Love for Three Oranges), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), and Fenena (Nabucco).

While residing in the UK, Catherine was a finalist in several major competitions – the Kathleen Ferrier Award, the Richard Tauber Award and the Young Concert Artists Trust. She also made debuts with English National Opera as Kate Pinkerton (Madame Butterfly), with Scottish Opera as Octavian, with British Youth Opera in the title role of Britten's Rape of Lucretia at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (subsequently issued on CD), and sang Vitige in Flavio and the title role in Muzio Scaevola for the London Handel Festival.

International concert and recital engagements have included a Verdi concert for the Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder, a solo recital at St James’ Piccadilly, Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ and Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Southwark Cathedral, Flora in Albinoni’s Il Nascimento dell’Aurora for Spitalfields Festival, concert performances of The Marriage of Figaro for London Mozart Players, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde for Cambridge University Music, Bach's B Minor Mass at Exeter Cathedral, and Das Lied von der Erde with the Gardner Chamber Orchestra in Boston.

In Australasia, Catherine has performed Elgar's Sea Pictures with the Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn's Nelson Mass and the Superdome Spectacular with the Sydney Symphony, Haydn's Arianna auf Naxos with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and she was a soloist in Opera Australia's New Year's Eve Gala Concert, and in Opera Under the Stars in Broome.

Recent roles with Opera Australia include Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress), for which she won a Helpmann Award, Second Lady, Mallika, Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), for which she received a Green Room Award, Mexican Woman (A Streetcar Named Desire), Ruggiero (Alcina), the title role in Carmen, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Kristina (The Makropulos Affair), and Heavenly Being and Madam By-Ends (The Pilgrims Progress).

Recent concert engagements include Messiah for the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and concert performances for Opera Australia including excerpts of Mozart’s Mitridate, the Classic 100 Opera concert and in their 50th Anniversary Gala, and Mozart’s Requiem with both the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia.

Catherine’s 2009 engagements included Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Second Lady (Magic Flute), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) and Auntie (Peter Grimes) for Opera Australia, Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli for Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Messiah for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. This season, her roles include Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), and Giovanna (Rigoletto), all for Opera Australia.