KarenCargill

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Mezzo-Soprano
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Nicholas Moloney

Nicholas Moloney

Senior Artist Manager
Megan Steller

Megan Steller

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

About Karen

Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill's concerts in 2023/24 include returns to The Metropolitan Opera for Verdi's Requiem, to the Philadelphia Orchestra for Alma Mahler songs, and to the Rotterdam Philharmonic for a concert tour of Die Walküre (Fricka), all conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; to the Boston Symphony for Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Judith) with Karina Canellakis, the Chicago Symphony for Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Tristan und Isolde (Act 2) and the Wiener Symphoniker for Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, both conducted by Robin Ticciati; and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for Berlioz' La mort de Cléopȃtre with Maxim Emelyanychev.

On the operatic stage, following her critically acclaimed performance as Mère Marie in Barrie Kosky's new production of Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmelites in 2023, she returns to the Glyndebourne Festival for Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne) conducted by Robin Ticciati.

She is Patron of the National Girls' Choir of Scotland and in 2018 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She sang in the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III following his Coronation in 2023.

Karen is based in Glasgow

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Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Sep 2023
Philharmonie, Berlin
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Robin Ticciati (conductor) Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Sep 2023
Metropolitan Opera, New York
Verdi Requiem Yannick Nézet-Séguin Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Oct 2023
Wiener Konzerthaus
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Robin Ticciati (conductor) Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano) Michael Spyres (tenor) Wiener Symphoniker

News

Press

  • Bluebeard's Castle (Judith)

    Boston Symphony Orchestra with Karina Canellakis
    Feb 2024
    • Cargill was full and rich at the top…she nailed her high C at the opening of the fifth door, and she was touching when Judith tells Bluebeard “Hallgass, hallgass, itt vagyok még” (“Look! Look! I’m still here”) even as he’s assimilating her.

    • Karen Cargill brought similarly admirable dramatic instincts to Judith…she charted Judith’s journey from lovesick young bride to Bluebeard’s latest resigned casualty with intense fervor.

    • Karen Cargill, led the way with some gleaming high notes and a steely lower register…the mezzo brought fire to her character’s demand for the final door to be opened.

    • Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill made a dramatically savvy and vocally powerful Judith, hues of innocence, curiosity, love, and despair flickering across her face as well as her voice. Her repeated intonations of “Szeretlek” (“I love you”) sounded achingly sincere.