Catherine Backhouse - Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Catherine Backhouse grew up in Edinburgh and began singing as a chorister in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. She graduated with an honours degree in music from The University of Durham and trained on the prestigious Opera Studies and Artist Diploma programmes at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She was a Scottish Opera Emerging Artist for the 2017/2018 Season and won the Sunday Herald Cutlure Award for Best Musical Artist for her performances which included Annina La Traviata, Opera Highlights Tour and the world première of Grace Notes by Samuel Bordoli. Future projects include playing Waltraute in Götterdämmerung and Die Walküre with Regent’s Opera with whom she previously played Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino. Career highlights include Concepción L’heure Espagnole for Grange Park Opera (film) and Mid-Wales Opera, Isabella L’Italiana in Algeri (Diva Opera), Suzuki Madama Butterfly (West Green House Opera), Kate Julian Owen Wingrave (Aldeburgh and Edinburgh International Festivals) and the title role in Donizetti’s La Favorite (UCL Opera). An enthusiast of new music, Catherine has performed Last Lines a concert of newly commissioned songs with the Hebrides Ensemble and Kurtág Messages of the Late R.V.Troussova. On the concert platform she appeared as a soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem and as The Angel in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. Her recital work has featured Elgar Sea Pictures, Wagner Wesendonk Lieder and ‘Emotionally Volatile’ a programme of songs composed by women. www.catherinebackhouse.co.uk