Katrin Wundsam

Katrin Wundsam © Christian Huber

MEZZO-SOPRANO | ALTO

Representation: World

BACK TO ARTISTS OVERVIEW

GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
DISCOGRAPHY
VIDEOS
CALENDAR
IN FOCUS

GALLERY

BIOGRAPHY

"Wundsam inspires with effortlessly achieved top notes, with moving intensity, with diabolic and erotic charisma."

Ingrid Freiberg | ioco - Kultur im Netz | 31 January 2023

Katrin Wundsam studied singing at the Anton Bruckner Private University and solo singing at the Mozarteum Salzburg, during which time she also took lessons in lied and oratorio and attended master classes with KS Robert Holl and Kurt Widmer.

As a permanent ensemble member of the Cologne Opera from 2009 to 2016, the Austrian mezzo-soprano took on a variety of roles such as Penelope (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), Nicklausse (Les contes d'Hoffmann), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Concepcion (L'heure espagnole) and Martuccia (Die Gezeichneten). In a guest performance of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in Shanghai, she appeared as Flosshilde (Das Rheingold), Grimgerde (Die Walküre) and Zweite Norn (Götterdämmerung). Other highlights included her Cologne debut as the title role in Bizet's Carmen and an acclaimed version of Georg Kreisler’s singspiel Heute Abend: Lola Blau.

Katrin Wundsam continues her collaboration with the Cologne Opera as a guest soloist, having recently appeared as the Pilgrim in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin and as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel in two new productions, before making another important role debut in the dramatic repertoire as the Foreign Princess in Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka. With the latter role, she also made her house debut at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in a new production under the direction of Daniela Kerck and Olesya Golovneva, while her role debut as Magdalene in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Marek Janowski took her to the Tokyo Spring Festival. Katrin Wundsam appeared for the first at the MusikTheater an der Wien as the Gymnasiast/Garderobiere in Alban Berg's Lulu, having previously performed Heute Abend: Lola Blau at the theatre’s Kammeroper in a scenic arrangement by Eicke Ecker and accompanied by the pianist Rainer Mühlbach. At the Dresden Music Festival she made her role debut as Fricka in Wagner's Das Rheingold with Concerto Köln under Kent Nagano.

After appearing at the Hamburg State Opera as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte and as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, she gave her debut in the latter role at Dresden’s Semperoper, where she subsequently appeared as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. The same role she went on to perform in collaboration with the Berlin State Opera in a new production staged by Achim Freyer and conducted by Sebastian Weigle. At the Salzburg Easter Festival Katrin Wundsam could be heard as Grimgerde in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre under Christian Thielemann, a role she later sang in a concert performance under Jaap van Zweeden at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Katrin has also enjoyed a successful and fruitful collaboration with the Bregenz Festival where she has so far appeared in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Verdi's Rigoletto, further to Ernst Křenek's Karl V, Igor Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, Simon Laks' L'hirondelle inattendue and in Arrigo Boito's Nerone. At the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, she was highly acclaimed in the role of Enea in Saverio Mercadante's rarely performed Didone abbandonata conducted by Alessandro De Marchi, a recording of which has been released with the label Naxos.

On the concert stage, Katrin Wundsam recently appeared with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's Requiem under Adam Fischer and in Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht under David Reiland, as well as with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern under Kazuki Yamada with Ravel's Shéhérazade and selected orchestral songs by Richard Strauss. At Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, she performed Mark-Anthony Turnage's dramatic scene Twice Through the Heart together with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg conducted by Markus Poschner. Other significant highlights to date include Stravinsky's Les Noces at the Vienna Musikverein, Luciano Berio's Folk Songs with the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Mozart's Vesperae solennes and his Coronation Mass with the Tonkünstler Orchestra Niederösterreich under Ivor Bolton, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the Rheingau Music Festival, the world premiere of Gerald Wirth's cantata Carmina Austriaca at the Grafenegg Festival, Mahler's Second Symphony at the International Brucknerfest Linz and his Eighth Symphony at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf under Adam Fischer.

Following her move into the more dramatic mezzo repertoire, Katrin Wundsam will make several notable Wagnerian role debuts in the current season at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, including Fricka in Die Walküre and Venus in Tannhäuser. She will also return to the MusikTheater an der Wien for a version of Oliver Knussen's Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen (Where the Wild Things Are) staged by Nikolaus Habjan.

2023 | 2024

www.katrinwundsam.com

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.

DISCOGRAPHY

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Polina Pasztircsák, Manuela Uhl, Fatma Said, Katrin Wundsam, Katharina Magiera, Neal Cooper, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Peter Rose
Choir of the Städtischer Musikverein, Philharmonischer Chor Bonn, Kartäuserkantorei Köln, Youth Choir of the Clara-Schumann Musikschule
Düsseldorfer Symphoniker
Conductor: Adam Fischer
Label: Challenge Records | 2019

VIDEOS