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: Cunegonde in Candide, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, 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, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Gluck‘s Euridice, Puccini‘s Lauretta, Morgana in Handel‘s Alcina, Strawinsky‘s Rossignol und Mozart‘s Zaide.

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

Catherine Swanson has worked with many notable conductors and stage directors:
Sylvain Cambreling, Marcello Viotti, Jun Märkl, Michael Hofstetter, David Parry, MarcPiollet, Patrick Davin, Srba Dinic, Stefan Lano, Wolfgang Bozic, Marko Letonja, Nigel Lowery, Markus Bothe, Matthias Oldag, Chris Alexander, John Dew, Herbert Wernicke, Christoph Marthaler, Katharina Thalbach und Claus Guth.

Also an avid recitalist, Catherine Swanson has a repertoire of over 200 Art Songs. Numerous programs 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 in the works of composers such as Telemann, Mendelssohn, Offenbach, Schubert and Beethoven.