Karen Cargill

Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and was the winner of the 2002 Kathleen Ferrier Award. In July 2018 Karen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is currently their interim Head of Vocal Studies.

Concerts this season and beyond include Mahler Das Lied von der Erde with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Cristian Măcelaru; Mahler Symphony No 2 with Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and David Afkham, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Rafael Payare, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati. Other forthcoming engagements include Beethoven Missa solemnis with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Lieder by Alma Mahler with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, both with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. With the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Alpesh Chauhan she will perform Schoenberg Lied der Waldtaube and record Wagner Wesendonck Lieder.

Past opera highlights have included the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Metropolitan Opera, New York; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Montpellier Opéra; the BBC Proms and Glyndebourne and Edinburgh International festivals, with roles including Waltraute Gotterdämmerung; Erda Das Rheingold and Siegfried; Brangäne Tristan und Isolde; Mère Marie Dialogues des carmélites and Judith Bluebeard’s Castle, while on the concert platform Karen has worked with conductors including Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, Edward Gardner and Mariss Jansons.

Karen has appeared with her recital partner Simon Lepper at Wigmore Hall London; Concertgebouw Amsterdam; Kennedy Centre Washington and Carnegie Hall New York, and regularly gives recitals for BBC Radio 3. With Simon, she recently recorded a critically acclaimed recital of Lieder by Alma and Gustav Mahler for Linn Records, for whom she has also recorded Berlioz Les nuits d’été and La mort de Cléopâtre with Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Karen is Patron of the National Girls’ Choir of Scotland.