Winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at Cardiff Singer of the World, British mezzo-soprano Katie Bray has become known for her magnetic stage presence and gleaming, expressive tone.
In the opera house her roles have included Hansel Hansel and Gretel, Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Varvara Katya Kabanova, Nancy Albert Herring, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Juno Semele, Zenobia Radamisto, Minerva Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Zaida Il turco in Italia, Isolier Le Comte Ory and Vivaldi’s Griselda (title role) for companies including English National Opera, Irish National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera and Opera Holland Park. Her interest in the music of Weill and cabaret has led to staged productions of this music, including Effigies of Wickedness, based on songs banned by the Nazis, at the Gate Theatre Notting Hill. Her debut Weill album will be recorded with Chandos Records in early 2025.
On the concert platform she has appeared with orchestras including London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hallé, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Aalborg Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in repertoire ranging from Messiah and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Verdi Requiem, Elijah and The Dream of Gerontius, as well as mixed programmes of classical and baroque arias. She recently gave the premiere of Spell Book by Freya Waley-Cohen with the Manchester Collective and performed Haydn’s Seven Last Words with RIAS Kammerchor at Konzerhaus Berlin.
