Katherine Watson
© Hugo Bernand
About
Soprano Katherine Watson graduated in 2008 from Cambridge University where she was a choral scholar at Trinity College under Richard Marlow and Stephen Layton. Whilst at university she studied Anglo-Saxon History and Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge and in addition to solo work she sang with the Charpentier Consort, the Cambridge Clerkes and the Cambridge University Baroque Ensemble.
In 2008 Katherine won a place in Le Jardin des Voix, and in Spring 2009 performed with Les Arts Florissants under the direction of William Christie at the Barbican in London, Alice Tully Hall in New York, Auditorio Nacional, Madrid, Cité de la Musique, Paris, and elsewhere across Europe and America. Operatic roles include Phani Les Incas du Pérou, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, and Anna Maurrant Street Scene. Her repertoire includes Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate< (Westminster Abbey), Handel Solomon (under Stephen Cleobury in Kings College Chapel), the Requiems of Brahms, Mozart and Fauré, Bach St John and St Matthew Passions, Poulenc Gloria, and Elgar Spirit of England.
She has also performed as a soloist in recordings of Britten Ceremony of Carols with Stephen Layton, and Brahms Sechs Lieder und Romanzen with the Consortium Choir, London.
Other engagements have included 2nd Woman Dido and Aeneas and Diana Actéon with Les Arts Florissants in New York, and Virtue/Damigella L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Teatro Real, Madrid with William Christie, Haydn's Nelson Mass conducted by Stephen Layton at Trinity College, a concert with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Kraemer and performances of Handel's Messiah for the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra and Stephen Layton, Bach's St John Passion and Brahms Requiem both in the Barbican with David Temple. Recent engagements have included Lutoslawski Songs and Mahler 4th Symphony in St John's Smith Square, Purcell's Indian Queen with Paul Agnew, Purcell's Dido in Dijon with Jonathan Cohen and a concert for the Cheltenham Festival.
Future plans include Recitals and Concerts in Hungary, Mozart Requiem and Vespers in the Barbican, Cassandra in Cavalli's Didone with Christie in Caen, Luxembourg and Paris, Handel's Jephtha with Christie in Paris, Brussels, Caen and Vienna and performances of Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio and St John Passion with Stephen Layton in London.
She recently made a recording of Marazzoli’s Oratorio di Santa Caterina with Atalante.