Ekaterina Semenchuk is one of the most sought-after mezzo-soprano voices in the world, known for her exceptional range and unparalleled technique. She studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg and made her stage debut at the Mariinsky Theatre while still a student. Ekaterina was a finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2001 and has gone on to become one of the most highly regarded singers of her generation.

Ekaterina continues to perform at the biggest houses in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Mariinsky Theatre, Teatro Real de Madrid, and the Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Verbier, and Edinburgh Festivals, and collaborates with such esteemed conductors as Antonio Pappano, Valeriy Gergiev, James Gaffigan, Michail Jurowski, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, Nicola Luisotti, Riccardo Muti, Gianandrea Noseda, and Zubin Mehta. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with directors like Franco Zeffirelli, Dmitri Tcherniakov, David McVicar, Alex Ollé, David Bösch, Francesco Zambello, Hugo de Ana, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Peter Stein, Francisco Negrin, David Alden, Robert Carsen, Pier Luigi Pizzi, and Harry Kupfer among many more.

Ekaterina’s operatic repertoire includes her signature roles as Azucena (Il Trovatore), Eboli (Don Carlo), Amneris (Aida), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), and Princess de Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur), along with Didon (Les Troyens), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Marina (Boris Godunov), Laura (La Gioconda), Lyubov (Mazeppa), Marfa (Khovanshchina), Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), and the title role in Carmen. On the concert podium, she has performed Verdi Requiem, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Mozart Requiem, Rossini and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Rossini Giovanna d’Arco, Mahler Symphonies No. 2, 3, and 8, Kindertotenlieder, and Das Klagende Lied, Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death, Chausson Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Ravel Scheherazade, and Berlioz Les nuits d’été and La Mort de Cléopâtre.

Ekaterina is also an avid recitalist, regularly performing around the world with pianists Semion Skigin and Julius Drake at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Mariinsky Concert Hall, Luzern Festival, Das Konzerhaus and Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall, Moscow House of Music, Teatro Colón, and elsewhere.

This season, Ekaterina makes her highly anticipated Bolshoi Theatre house and role debut as Lyubava in Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely performed Sadko. She also returns to her signature role of Eboli in a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlo for her house debuts at the Salzburg Easter Festival and Dresden Semperoper in 2020 under the baton of Chrsitian Thielemann and director Vera Nemirova. Ekaterina returns to the Opéra National de Paris Bastille to work with David McVicar in his acclaimed production of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur and performs Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestra e Coro dell ‘Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Later, Ekaterina returns to the Metropolitan Opera, Baden-Baden, Wiener Staatsoper, and Deutsche Staatsoper, and makes her highly anticipated debuts at Opernhaus Zurich, and at the Lyric Opera Chicago.

Ekaterina is an established recording artist. For the Sony Classics label, Ekaterina has recorded Jocasta ‘Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex’ under Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus; for Warner Classics, ‘Verdi: Aida’ under Sir Antonio Pappano with the Orchestra dell ’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, with her portrayal as Amneris reviewed as ‘one of the finest on record’ (Gramophone Magazine). Ekaterina features on the Sony recording of Beethoven Symphony No.9 under James Gaffigan with the Luzern Sinfonieorchester and was personally invited as a soloist at the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, the music of which has since been released as a compilation album on the Quartz label. Her debut recording in 2006 was a programme of Russian songs from the 19th and 20th Centuries, released on Harmonia Mundi with pianist Larissa Gergieva.