ABOUT

Belgian soprano Katrien Baerts has been noted for her powerful and sensual voice as well as for her profound and heartfelt interpretation.

Season 2024/25 starts for Ms. Baerts with her debut at the MiTo Festival in Turin, Italy, where she will perform the impressive song cycle 'Harawi' by Messiaen. Further highlights of the season include her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with music by Louis Andriessen, Oliver Knussens 'Songs for Sue' together with the Asko|Schoenberg Ensemble and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and the conclusion of a series of performances of Kurtags 'Kafka Fragmente' at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. In addition, she will perform a series of French chamber music concerts including Ravels 'Chansons Madécasses' and music by Debussy.

At the Ruhrtriënnale, Ms. Baerts made her acclaimed debut as the leading role of Theodora in a new production of Olga Neuwirths 'Bählamms Fest'. She was praised for her vocal and theatrical abilities at the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi 2023 in a newly staged version of 'Harawi' by Messiaen. At the Salzburger Festspiele, she has been heard in the role of Sie in 'Begehren' by Beat Furrer, and at the National Opera in Amsterdam, she made her debut as eine Fünfzehnjährige in a new production of 'Lulu'. She made her first appearance in Tokyo with 'House of the Sleeping Beauties' by Kris Defoort. Ms. Baerts performed several world premières: at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as Clara in Loevendie's opera 'The Rise of Spinoza', as well as the title role in Zuidam's 'Suster Bertken'. In Jakarta, Indonesia, Ms. Baerts created the title role in Prabowo's dance-opera 'Gandari' and Jan-Peter de Graaf wrote a mono-drama about a flat-earther for her, called 'Parallax'. Further roles include Pamina in 'Die Zauberflöte', Micaëla in 'Carmen', Despina in 'Così fan tutte', Miss Wordsworth in 'Albert Herring', Stimme des Falken and Hüter der Schwelle in 'Die Frau ohne Schatten', and Amore and Valletto in 'l'Incoronazione di Poppea'. Ms. Baerts has worked with stage directors such as Pierre Audi, Lotte de Beer, Silvia Costa, Kenza Koutchoukali, Johan Simons and Floris Visser.

In the Summer of 2023, Ms. Baerts was re-invited to the Salzburger Festspiele to perform Grisey's 'Quatre chants pour fanchir le Seuil' with Klangforum Wien, led by Ilan Volkov, while her latest album featuring 'l'Icone paradoxale' by the same composer with the WDR Sinfonieorchester has been awarded the 'Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik'. Her debut at the Barbican Center in London was enthusiastically received by the press. In addition to 20th-century music such as 'Lonely Child' by Vivier and 'Mysteries of the Macabre' by Ligeti, Ms. Baerts' concert repertoire includes the 'Stabat Mater' by Pergolesi, Bach's 'St. John Passion', 'Grosse Messe in c' by Mozart, 'Ein Deutsches Requiem' by Brahms, Mahler's '4th Symphony' and 'Les Illuminations' by Britten, with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Ms. Baerts has worked with conductors as Richard Egarr, Vladimir Jurowski, Oliver Knussen, Reinbert de Leeuw, Carlo Rizzi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Bas Wiegers.

Ms. Baerts is a graduate of the Dutch National Opera Academy and was selected to take part in the 'International Lied Masterclasses' by Udo Reinemann and guest professors. She was a semi-finalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and obtained a Master's degree at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in both voice and violin.

September 2024

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