Nadezhda Karyazina

Biography

The Russian-Swiss mezzo-soprano Nadezhda Karyazina, winner of the Herbert von Karajan Prize 2025, is “one of the most significant singers and performers of our time.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). With a voice described by The Guardian as “resonant and strong at the top of her range, rich and potent in the contralto low notes”, the “outstanding” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) singer made her triumphant debut as Marfa in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina at the 2025 Salzburg Easter Festival, where she was the “star of the evening” (Austria Presse Agentur) and received rave reviews from press and audience alike.

Karyazina opened the 2024/25 season as Marfa at the Helsinki Festival and the Baltic Sea Festival under Esa-Pekka Salonen in a concert production, before appearing at the Semperoper Dresden as Princess Clarisse in a new production of Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges.