KATHARINE
FUGE
SOPRANO
ABOUT
Katharine Fuge is a versatile and critically acclaimed performer with a well-established reputation as a performer of integrity, versatility and sensitivity. She has a special feeling for text and language in both concert and recital.
She grew up on the Channel Island of Jersey and moved to London to study music at City University. Since then, her singing career has taken her far and wide, across the UK and Europe, to North and South America, the Far East and Russia. She is particularly known for singing Bach and has performed and recorded Bach with many of the leading ensembles and conductors, especially Philippe Herreweghe, Philippe Pierlot’s Ricercar Consort, and John Eliot Gardiner with whom she has enjoyed a long and fruitful association both as a soloist and member of the Monteverdi Choir.
Katharine’s personal highlights from a varied career include Haydn's Die Schöpfung with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Roger Norrington at the Edinburgh International Festival, the world premiere of Carl Rütti’s Requiem at Winchester Cathedral with the Bach Choir and David Hill, Mozart’s Mass in C minor at San Francisco Symphony Hall with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and John Eliot Gardiner, Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten with the Nagoya Symphony Orchestra, Japan and Hidemi Suzuki, Bach’s St John Passion in Paris with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Frans Brüggen, Mozart Requiem with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Thierry Fischer at the St Magnus Festival, a tour of Columbia with the Akademie für Alte Musik as well as the many performances with Gardiner throughout Europe and around the world but particularly those at the BBC Proms. She also very much enjoyed the late-night Caledonia Session concert at the 2009 Edinburgh International Festival with Concerto Caledonia and the fabulous ‘Bard of Dundee’ Michael Marra, which was recorded and released on Delphian.
Although Katharine has spent much of her career singing music from the Baroque and Classical periods, her range is wide including performances of works such as Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Elgar The Kingdom, Mendelssohn Elias, Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony, Tippett A Child of our Time, Grieg Peer Gynt and Poulenc Gloria with ensembles including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the City of London Sinfonia, l'Orchestre des Champs Elysées, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra , the North Netherlands Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
Alongside her work with John Eliot Gardiner Katharine has also performed with leading conductors across Europe including Frieder Bernius, Frans Brüggen, Pierre Cao, Harry Christophers, Stephen Cleobury, Marcus Creed, Andrew Davis, Edward Downes, Richard Egarr, Thierry Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, David Hill, Ton Koopman, Paul McCreesh, Roger Norrington, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Ed Spanjaard, David Stern and Hidemi Suzuki.
Her recordings include acclaimed volumes of Bach Cantatas with both Gardiner (DG Archiv and SDG, from the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000) and Philippe Pierlot's Ricercar Consort (Mirare), Handel Dixit Dominus and Vivaldi Gloria (Philips Classics), the Caledonia Sessions from the 2009 Edinburgh Festival with Concerto Caledonia (Delphian) and Handel Messiah with Musica Florea Prague (Feldgen). Most recently released are Bach St. John Passion and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, all with Gardiner (SDG).
Katharine has taught the trebles of the renowned Trinity Boys Choir since 2002, preparing them for opera and concert performances across Europe and further afield. She lives by the sea and when she's not swimming or gardening she loves going to the theatre, art galleries and exhibitions, and music performances of all sorts.