About this Artist
Recognized for her work in the Baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano KARINA GAUVIN sings Bach, Mahler, Britten, and the music of the 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. The prestigious distinctions she has received include the title of “Soloist of the Year” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, first prize in the CBC Radio competition for young performers, and the Virginia Parker Prize and Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London.
She has sung with the greatest symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, as well as Baroque orchestras such as Les Talens Lyriques, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Il Complesso Barocco, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Il Pomo d’Oro, Concentus Musicus Wien, and Les Violons du Roy.
She has performed under the direction of Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas, Bernard Labadie, Christophe Rousset, Alan Curtis, Sir Roger Norrington, Kent Nagano, Semyon Bychkov, Helmuth Rilling, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In addition, she has given recitals with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Michael McMahon, and Roger Vignoles.
Among her recent projects was a European tour and an Erato recording of Niobe (Steffani) with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, and again with Jaroussky a recording of Handel’s Partenope. She has sung Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis, with whom she also recorded Handel operas on the Archiv/DG, Virgin, and Naïve labels, among others. She performed in Tito Manlio (Vivaldi) in Brussels and at the Barbican in London, in Ezio (Handel) in Paris and Vienna, in Giulio Cesare (Handel) in Paris and Vienna, as well as in Juditha Triumphans (Vivaldi) with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Karina Gauvin’s extensive discography – over 40 titles – has won numerous awards, including a Chamber Music America Award for her Fête Galante disc with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and several Opus Prizes. In 2009, she recorded Britten’s Les Illuminations with Les Violons du Roy under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Set for release by Sony in autumn 2016 is Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) recorded last year with Musica Aeterna/Teodor Currentzis.
In the 2016/17 season Karina Gauvin returns to Madrid’s Teatro Real to sing Vitellia in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito and to the Boston Early Music Festival for a new production of Campra’s Carnaval de Venis. Concerts include Messiah with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda at Theâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Fauré’s Requiem with Stephane Denève.