Katarina Dalayman

Mezzo-soprano

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“Few manage to encompass [Kundry’s] sensuality and her wild extremes as comprehensively as Dalayman’s first-class singing did.”
(Richard Fairman, Financial Times)

With a reputation for strong, dramatic interpretations married with impeccable musicianship, Swedish soprano Katarina Dalayman has sustained a long and prestigious international career in the dramatic repertoire and she has enjoyed enduring collaborations with many of today’s foremost conductors. Dalayman has performed a wide range of roles including Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), Marie (Wozzeck), Lisa (Queen of Spades), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Katarina Ismailova (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) and the title role of Elektra. With a particularly strong association to Wagner’s Brünnhilde, Dalayman has appeared in Ring cycles at The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener and Bayerische staatsopers, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Salzburger Festspiele and Festival d’Aix en Provence.

Looking ahead to the next phase in her career, Katarina Dalayman’s repertoire is now focused on new roles, having recently made her debut as Kundry (Parsifal) in Dresden, Paris and Stockholm, Judith (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle) in Barcelona and London (Royal Opera House), Ortrud (Lohengrin) with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at The Metropolitan Opera. She has recently appeared as Herodias (Salome) for Royal Swedish Opera, Foreign Princess (Rusalka) at The Metropolitan Opera, and this season she makes role debuts as Klytämnestra (Elektra), Amneris (Aida), and Kostelnička (Jenůfa), all for Royal Swedish Opera.

katarina Dalayman 4 (new) — Katarina Dalayman

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Jenůfa (excerpt) © Royal Swedish Opera

Korngold: Die Tote Stadt (excerpt) © Naxos

“Not just because she had the glamorous advantage, the star of the evening was Katarina Dalayman’s Amneris in a performance of intensity and smooth, rich tone that got darker the lower it went.”

(John Allison, Opera Magazine, May 2018)

“[Katarina Dalayman’s] interpretation [of Klytaemnestra] was intense and believable: she was composed…one moment, the next moment, she was completely broken”

(Bachtrack, January 2018)

“Katarina Dalayman’s Kundry was the Prom’s other clinching performance and, equally vividly, it jumps off the recording. Her voice projects Kundry’s weird, conflicted psychology brilliantly and, with Elder’s support, steers us through the complexities of Act Two”

(Classical Source, November 2017)

“Best of the soloists is Katarina Dalayman [as Kundry]”

(Opera Magazine, October 2017)

“Of the protagonists, only one, Katarina Dalayman as Kundry, retains her lustre; her portrayal conjures dramatic presence out of every phrase and can compare with the best of those already available on disc. No one else matches her combination of intensity and vocal security.”

(The Guardian, Andrew Clements, May 2017)

“Katarina Dalayman was an unusually sympathetic Fricka, with an easy top”

(Bachtrack, May 2017)

“Already remarkable in Das Rheingold, Katarina Dalayman is a tigress one can’t resist as Fricka. The ease with which the voice has evolved and homogenously developed in the lower registers validates her switch to more mezzo roles.”

(Forum Opéra, May 2017)

“Katarina Dalayman (Fricka) charted every blow in their marital argument. Dalayman, regal and opulent of voice, wheedling and demanding the abandonment of Siegmund”

(Bachtrack, May 2017)

“Katarina Dalayman sang with fiery passion as the Foreign Princess.”

(Bachtrack, February 2017)

“The Swedish soprano Katarina Dalayman is subtly conniving as the Foreign Princess.”

(Huffington Post, February 2017)

“Katarina Dalayman – that most downwardly mobile of sopranos – brought eloquent warmth to the officially mezzo part of Jocasta.”

(Opera Magazine, John Allison, December 2016)

“Katarina Dalayman’s Judith was compellingly characterized”

(Opera Magazine, July 2016)