Soprano Katharine Dain performs opera, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire on international stages and is a probing curator and collaborator on many kinds of creative projects. Highlights of recent seasons include being named Artist-in-Residence with Finland’s Tapiola Sinfonietta; ongoing collaborations with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra; Mozart Don Giovanni (Donna Anna), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), and Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, and Ecuador; and projects with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC Scottish and Welsh Symphony Orchestras. Dain’s recent album Regards sur l’Infini with pianist Sam Armstrong, featuring Messiaen Poèmes pour Mi and songs by Debussy, Delbos, Dutilleux, and Saariaho, won the 2021 Edison Klassiek for Best Debut and was widely praised in the press (“an extraordinarily polished and thought-through disc … glowing” —The Guardian).

A passionate advocate for music of the 20th and 21st centuries, Dain first appeared with the Dutch National Opera in Claude Vivier Kopernikus and recently was both singer and co-creator on the new production I Have Missed You Forever for the same company and Amsterdam’s Opera Forward Festival. Her repertoire interests in song and chamber music are especially broad, from Baroque to the present day (including many pieces commissioned for her), and she is a frequent guest at innovative European festivals including Aldeburgh, the Holland Festival, West Cork, International Lied Festival Zeist, and Wonderfeel.

Dain is equally at home in oratorio; some favorite past performances include Bach Matthäus-Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Choir of King’s College Cambridge, Handel Messiah in Carnegie Hall, Stravinsky Les Noces with the New York City Ballet, and Mozart Requiem and Beethoven Ninth Symphony with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and Cappella Amsterdam.

Dain holds degrees from Harvard University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Mannes College of Music. A dual citizen of the Netherlands and the United States, she currently lives in Rotterdam.

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Last updated summer 2023. Please inquire directly for bios of different lengths and languages.