Katrina Waters
SINGER | BROADCASTER| SCHOLAR

Biography

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Katrina Waters is an Australian mezzo soprano and graduate of the Royal College of Music, London, who has performed with Opera Australia, English National Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, at the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall London, and at festivals including Dartington, Belle-Île-en-Mer in Brittany and the Britten-Pears Festival.

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In 2026 she made her professional Sydney debut performing the role of Rhinemaiden Wellgunde in Das Rheingold at City Recital Hall.

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“…the resplendent entry of the Rhinemaidens. Their voices shone and their excellent ensemble singing rang out like a brass choir.”

https://www.classikon.com/chamber-version-of-das-rheingold-a-resounding-success/

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Based in the United Kingdom for 10 years, Katrina is an alumnus of the Royal College of Music (London), Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and English National Opera’s developing artist programme. A true Zwischenfach, Katrina developed through lyric mezzo soprano roles of Mozart, Britten and Handel to spinto soprano and dramatic mezzo roles. Recent roles include Waltraute in Die Walküre and Dritte Magd in Elektra for the Dramatic Voices Program, Berlin, and appearances in Tannhäuser and Mefistofele with Opera Australia in Melbourne. 

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Katrina Waters swans as Rosina, the coach’s rather Brighton-bred wife…the poignancy of Rosina’s lament of love lost and the stirring act of forgiveness she bestows on a repentant husband remain luminous highlights.

★★★★★ Paul Selar, Herald Sun, Figaro vs Oz Rock

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An experienced recitalist, Waters has performed the alto solos in oratorios including the Bach Passions, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Mozart Requiem, Duruflé Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Vivaldi Gloria, and Handel Messiah, alongside orchestral song including Mahler Kindertotenlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Elgar Sea Pictures, de Falla Three Cornered Hat, and Brahms Alto Rhapsody.

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Waters has also been a committed creator of new work, garnering a reputation in the United Kingdom for her versatility in world premieres. Credits include The President of the US in Keith Burstein's Manifest Destiny for King's Head Opera; Greek Woman in Alex Silverman's Pisspots and Tosspots for the Onassis Festival in Oxford; and Cherie in Manga Sister for the London Olympic Arts Festival.

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What a joy…a batshit-mental enterprise that throws together a bunch of mad ideas and makes them work impressively well with gleeful conviction. An eccentric gem.

★★★★TIME OUT CRITIC’S CHOICE - Manga Sister, LiveaArtShow London

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Building on this commitment to new Australian voices, Waters developed Songs for Loud Women with composers Katy Abbott, Anne Cawrse, Melody Eötvös, Roya Safaei and Sally Whitwell as the creative output of her PhD in Creative Practice at ANU — a cycle exploring the experience of women with large, dramatic voices, and the physical, professional and hormonal realities of inhabiting an instrument that doesn't fit neatly into opera's traditional categories.