Artist Bios
Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano
Official Website: www.krisztinaszabo.com

Hungarian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó has become highly sought after in both North America and Europe as an artist of supreme musicianship and stagecraft. The Chicago Tribune exclaimed, "Krisztina Szabó stole her every scene with her powerful, mahogany voice and deeply poignant immersion in the empress' plight" after her performance of Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea. She made her Lincoln Center début as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Mostly Mozart Festival where she was praised in the New York Times for being "clear, strong, stately and an endearingly vulnerable Dorabella."

Krisztina Szabó's 2011-12 season includes reengagements with Chicago's Music of the Baroque, under Jane Glover, in Bach's B Minor Mass; with Canadian Opera Company as Le Pèlerin in Saariaho's L'Amour de loin; and her debut with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Messiah. In 2010-11 she sang Sesto in La clemenza di Tito with Vancouver Opera; Dido in Dido and Aeneas with Music of the Baroque Orchestra and Chorus; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Stadttheater Klagenfurt; appeared as featured soloist in a concert of contemporary song at the Cervantino Festival (Mexico); in "C'est mon plaisir" (the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner) for Aldeburgh Connection Concert Society; and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in a return to Talisker Players Chamber Music.

Ms. Szabó exemplifies today’s modern singer: she is vocally versatile, possesses excellent stage prowess and paints vivid character portraits on both the opera and concert stages. She sings frequently at the Canadian Opera Company and has been seen in diverse roles, such as Idamante (Idomeneo), Musetta (La bohème), The Double-Offred in the Time Before (The Handmaid's Tale) and Nancy (Albert Herring). In 2006 she helped christen the company’s new opera house in their critically acclaimed Ring Cycle as Wellgunde (Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung), and Siegrune (Die Walküre) and returned to open their 06/7 season in the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte). Canadian audiences have also seen Ms. Szabó as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera and L'Opéra de Québec, Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Bernard Labadie, Nerone (Agrippina) with L'Opéra de Montréal, as the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride with Opera Atelier.

Outside of Canada, Ms Szabó has performed a wide variety of roles including: Rosalind (The Mines of Sulphur) for the Wexford Festival Opera (company début), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Judith (Bluebeard's Castle) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) - all with Chicago Opera Theater, Magnolia (Showboat) with L'Opéra National du Rhin, the title role in Charpentier's Médée with Le Concert Spirituel in Paris, The Queen of the Fairies in Ana Sokolovic's hilarious new opera, The Midnight Court, with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre's tour to England, Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Stadttheater Klagenfurt and Bianca (Mercadante's Il giuramento) with Washington Concert Opera.

Krisztina Szabó is a frequent performer of recital, concert and chamber repertoire. She has recently appeared as a soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Mozart's Mass in C Minor), L'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (Bach's Mass in B Minor), the San Antonio Symphony (Handel's Messiah), the Talisker Players in Toronto for an evening of chamber music, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Mendelssohn's Elijah), the Elora Festival Orchestra (Verdi's Requiem), Les Violons du Roy’s United States tour of (Haydn's cantata Arianna a Naxos) , the Brooklyn Academy of Music (staged production of Bach's St. Matthew Passion) and the Oregon Symphony (Mozart Requiem). In recital, she has appeared with Ravinia Festival, Aldeburgh Connection, Music Toronto, Off Centre Music Salon and Music at Sharon. In addition, she has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, Lanaudière Festival, Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestra London, and Toronto Operetta Theatre.

Ms, Szabó has appeared on television featured in CBC's "Opening Night" in concert with the Canadian Opera Company. On film, she can be seen as Zerlina with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Don Giovanni Revealed: Leporello's Revenge, and she can be heard as the voice of Leanne in the new opera movie Burnt Toast. She will be a featured artist in upcoming CD releases with Talisker Players and with Musica Leopolis.

Ms. Szabó finished her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, after completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario studying with Darryl Edwards, with whom she continues to study. She has been the recipient of the Emerging Artist grant from Canada Council. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Kristian Clarke and their daughter, Phoibe Clarke.

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