Catherine Hopper mezzo

Catherine Hopper studied Music at the University of Leeds and the Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar, Germany, graduating with First Class Honours. She graduates from the Royal Academy Opera in July where she has been studying with Elizabeth Ritchie and Jonathan Papp. She joins the National Opera Studio in September.

Roles have included Octavian in excerpts from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier (Cheltenham), Ramiro in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Mezzo-Actress in Judith Weir’s Night at the Chinese Opera, Third Spirit in Massenet's Cendrillon, Zita in Gianni Schicci and Marta in Iolantha, conducted by Steuart Bedford (all at RAM), Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte at Clonter Opera, Mme. Larina in Eugene Onegin for BYO, directed by Will Kerley and conducted by Peter Robinson and at Garsington, Chorus in Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Jane Glover and Chorus/Maiden in Der Stein der Weisen with Steuart Bedford, both directed by John Cox. Excerpts at RAM include Lucretia Rape of Lucretia, Dejaniera Hercules, Giove La Calisto and Cenerentola Cenerentola.

Credits include a performance of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire as part of the South Bank Max Festival and subsequently cover at ROH for a production with the Royal Ballet. More recently she performed Elgar’s Sea Pictures at St. John’s Smith Square with the YMSO under James Blair. Oratorio has included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Jeremy Jackman, Durufflé’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria with Ronald Corp and Emma Kirkby, Mozart's Requiem at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Haydn’s Nelson’s Mass with Jonathan Wilcox and Bliss’s Pastoral with Ronald Corp. She has taken part in Masterclasses with Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Thomas Hampson, Dennis O’Neill, Udo Rhineman, Paul Kiesgen and Julian Pike. She was a member of the Academy’s 2005/6 Song Circle with whom she gave several recitals and recorded for a CD. She has just performed the title role in The Rape of Lucretia at RAM. Future engagements include Elgar’s Sea Pictures at St. Alban’s Cathedral with the Manning Camerata, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at RAH with Scratch Concerts under the baton of Brian Kay, and recitals at the Oxford Hollywell Rooms with John Reid and at the National Portrait Gallery with the pianist Simon Lepper. As winner of the Maisie Lewis Award she will make her Wigmore Hall debut in March 2008 in a recital with Joseph Middleton.

Catherine is a recipient of an Allcard Award administered by The Worshipful Company of Musicians, a Miriam Licette Award from the MBF and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist. She is grateful to The Dorset Foundation and Josephine Baker Trust for their sponsorship.