Catherine Swanson studied Voice, German and Italian. While still a student, she received numerous invitations as a concert soloist for the sacred works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, as well as contracts at several opera houses including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mannheim and Saarbrücken to sing lyric and coloratura roles: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Madama Cortese in Rossini‘s Il viaggio a Reims, the Primadonna in Donizetti‘s Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, Musetta in La Bohème and Berg‘s Lulu. A long-term engagement at the opera in Basel followed, with roles such as Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Gluck‘s Euridice, Strawinsky‘s Rossignol and Mozart‘s Zaide.

La Fenice in Venice, Dresden‘s Semperoper, the Viennese Festwochen, Budapest, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lille and Stuttgart were further stations for concert and opera guestings.

Catherine Swanson has worked with many notable conductors and stage directors, including Sylvain Cambreling, Marcello Viotti, Jun Märkl, Michael Hofstetter, David Parry, Patrick Davin, Srba Dinic, Wolfgang Bozic, Marko Letonja, Marc Piollet, Nigel Lowery, Chris Alexander, John Dew, Herbert Wernicke, Christoph Marthaler, Katharina Thalbach and Claus Guth.

Also an avid recitalist, Catherine Swanson has a repertoire of over 200 Art Songs. Numerous programmes have taken her to Germany, France, Switzerland, the U.S. and the U.K.

Catherine Swanson can also be heard on several recent CD recordings singing works of Telemann, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Offenbach, Dvorak and Beethoven.