“Karina Gauvin is the incarnation of a Cleopatra through songs with haunting modulations… This Queen of Egypt who expresses her delicately shaded laments on the borders of silence…” (Diapason)

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. Mrs Gauvin has sung with the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, 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 and Les Violons du Roy.

She has performed under the direction of Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas, Michel Plasson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mikko Frank, Teodor Currentzis, Bernard Labadie, Christophe Rousset, Sir Roger Norrington, Kent Nagano, Jérémie Rhorer and the late Alan Curtis among others.
In 2015, she was Vitellia in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (J. Rohrer/D. Podalydès) and Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo (O. Dantone/R. Carsen) at the Glyndebourne Festival. The year before she sang the title role in Gluck’s Armide (I. Bolton/B. Kosky) at the Netherlands Opera. In 2017, Karina Gauvin reprised the role of Vitellia under the direction of Teodor Currentzis at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and appeared as Duchesse d’Étampes in Camille Saint-Saëns’ long-lost opera Ascanio conducted by Guillaume Tourniaire at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She was Merab in Handel’s Saul at the Glyndebourne Festival (L. Cummings/B. Kosky). In the 2018/2019 season, she gave a recital of French melodies at the Lille Opera, Opéra National du Rhin and Wigmore Hall, as well as several concerts with Julien Chauvin and Le Concert de la Loge at the Halle Festival and Metz Arsenal. She sang the role of Giunone in Cavalli’s Calisto for the Bayerische Staatsoper (C. Moulds/D. Alden) and Madrid Teatro Real under the baton of Ivor Bolton, and appeared as Bellezza in Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at the Innsbruck Festival with Alessandro De Marchi.

The 2019/2020 season saw her performing several works by Handel such as Saul (Merab) at Paris Théâtre du Châtelet under Laurence Cummings, Messiah at Paris Philharmonie under Hervé Niquet, Agrippina (Poppea) and Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra) with Christophe Rousset at the Bucharest George Enescu Festival, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Ambronay Festival. Other past projects include a European tour and a recording of Ariodante (Handel) for EMI Virgin Classics, along with a European tour and a recording of Giulio Cesare, both with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco. She sang in the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and the Symphony No. 2  (Mahler) with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Karina Gauvin was Lia in Debussy’s Enfant prodigue with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Frank later released on the Erato label. Her extensive discography – more than 50 titles – has won her numerous awards, including a “Chamber Music America Award” for her “Fête Galante” disc with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, 2 Grammy nominations for her recordings with the Boston Early Music Orchestra and several Opus Prizes. She recorded the role of Donna Elvira with Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna for Sony Classical.

In the 2021/2022 season, Karina reprises her signature role of Alcina: with Harry Bicket/The English
Concert in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as in a new Václav Luks/Jiří Heřman production
in Brno, Versailles and Caen.

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