Soprano Catherine Swanson began her classical voice training at the age of 14 in her home state of Minnesota. After graduating „summa cum laude“ with a degree in Vocal Performance and German from the University of Wisconsin, she continued her studies in Voice and Italian at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

Already having received numerous invitations to perform as a concert soloist in sacred works of Bach, Händel and Mozart, Catherine Swanson was engaged as a soloist by the Deutsche Oper Berlin directly upon her graduation. She was subsequently invited by the opera houses in Saarbrücken, Mannheim and Gera to sing lyric coloratura roles: Cunegonde in Candide, Berg’s Lulu, Musetta in La Bohème, Madama Cortese in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and the Primadonna Corilla Sartinecchi in Donizetti’s Le convenienze teatrali.

Guest appearances in Vienna, Venice, Amsterdam, Berlin and Dresden followed, as well as an engagement at the opera house in Basel, where Catherine Swanson was heard in roles such as Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Gluck’s Euridice, Eurydice in Orpheé aux enfers, Morgana in Alcina, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Strawinsky’s Le Rossignol or  Mozart’s Zaide.

Catherine Swanson has worked with many notable conductors and directors: Sylvain Cambreling, Marcello Viotti, Jun Märkl, Michael Hofstetter, Stefan Lano, David Parry, Wolfgang Bozic, Marko Letonja, Chris Alexander, Nigel Lowery, John Dew, Herbert Wernicke, Christoph Marthaler and Claus Guth.

Also a passionate recitalist, Catherine Swanson’s Art Song repertoire consists of over 150 works of the Baroque, Classic and Romantic eras: from Purcell and the Italian Masters, Mozart, Haydn, Rossini, Mendelssohn und Schubert, to Schumann, Brahms, Verdi, Fauré und Richard Strauss. Numerous concerts have taken her to Germany, France, England, Switzerland and the U.S.

She continues her vocal studies with Dale Fundling in Salzburg, Austria.