Full Biography
The Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi with her “deeper, dark” (Jenny Camilleri/ Bachtrack) voice is one of the most up-and-coming singers in her repertoire and leads critics to predict that she “will be the Verdi mezzo of the next years” (Maximilian Maier / BR Klassik). Her 2024/25 season commences with a return to San Francisco Opera as Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. This new-to-San Francisco Opera production directed by Leo Muscato and conducted by Eun Sun Kim marks a thrilling return to Verdi’s drama. Kutasi also returns to the Metropolitan Opera, where she performs the role of Amneris in Verdi’s Aïda in a new staging by Michael Mayer. She sees futher performances of Amneris at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper in a production by Benedikt von Peter and under the baton of Paolo Arrivabeni. The season culminates with Kutasi’s house debut at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, where she takes on the role of the Principessa de Bouillon in a new production of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, under the musical direction of Giampaolo Bisanti.
Last season, Kutasi made several major debuts: she gave her first performances in the United States as Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin at the San Francisco Opera, and celebrated her Metropolitan Opera debut as Preziosilla in the new production of La forza del destino under Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She made her house debut at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen with Verdi’s Requiem led by Bertrand de Billy and appeared for the first time with the Salzburg Easter Festival performing the same masterpiece under the baton of Maestro Antonio Pappano. Verdi’s Requiem also brought her to St. Louis, where she sang it with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Stéphane Denève. Additionally, she returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she reprised the role of Laura in La Gioconda; performed Amneris in Aïda, one of her signature roles, at the Hungarian State Opera; and sang the role of Erda in a concert performance of Wagner’s Siegfried at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
In the 2022/23 season, Kutasi sang Azucena in Il trovatore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and at the Opéra National de Paris. She made a last-minute jump-in as Amneris in a new production of Aïda at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and reprised the role for Opera de Las Palmas. She was also heard as Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff at the Staatsoper Hamburg. On the concert stage, Judit Kutasi performed Stravinsky’s Les noces conducted by Kent Nagano at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and appeared in concerts at the Staatstheater Hannover, performing Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah”.
Highlights of recent seasons include the role of Erda in the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of Das Rheingold under Sir Donald Runnicles, as well as the role of Amneris in Aïda, both at the Arena di Verona and the Bayerische Staatsoper under Maestro Zubin Mehta. Kutasi jumped in at the last minute at Teatro alla Scala as La principessa di Bouillon in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and performed as Princess Eboli in a semi-staged version of Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As Princess Eboli, the mezzo-soprano was also part of an online streamed concert – a co-production of the Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti and the Teatro Municipale. With great success, Judit Kutasi joined Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov in Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at Teatro alla Scala Milano in performances led by Maestro Riccardo Chailly, subsequently released by the theater on DVD in a coproduction with CMajor.
A sought-after artist on the concert stage, she sang Federica in Verdi’s Luisa Miller (CD production of BR Klassik) with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the direction of Ivan Repušic. At the Musikfest Berlin, she sang Waltraute (Die Walküre) and Erda (Siegfried) under the baton of Donald Runnicles. With Maestro Runnicles she also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms together with the World Orchestra for Peace. She sang Grimgerde (Die Walküre) under Sir Andrew Davis at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and opened the Budapest Spring Festival at MÜPA as Sophie in Liszt’s The Legend of Saint Elizabeth. Judit Kutasi appeared as Catherine (Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher) with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (CD production of RCO Live). At Teatro all Scala in Milan, she sang Bruckner’s Te Deum and performed in the opera house’s New Year concert in 2019.
Judit Kutasi was a Walter Sandvoss Fellow of Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin in 2016/17 and has been a very popular and celebrated guest artist at the Deutsche Oper ever since. In the 2013/14 season, the mezzo-soprano was part of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera and directly after became a permanent ensemble member of Zurich Opera until 2016.
The mezzo-soprano has worked with many renowned conductors such as Christoph von Dohnányi, Fabio Luisi, Alain Altinoglu, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Nello Santi, Marco Armiliato, Carrie-Ann Matheson and many others, as well as with distinguished directors such as Barrie Kosky, Andreas Homoki, Tatiana Gürbaca, Frank Castorf, amongst others.
Judit Kutasi was born in Timisoara, Romania. She studied voice, piano and cello at the Colegiul Național de Artă “Ion Vidu” and continued her studies at the University of Oradea and the Music Academy Gheorghe Dima in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, graduating with a master’s degree.
© CSAM GmbH, August 2024
