Biography

A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Louise Kemény has been praised for her “warm timbred” (FAZ) lyric soprano with “brilliant coloraturas” (Das Opernglas).

In the season 2023/24, Louise Kemény will give her house and role debut at Theater Basel as Agathe/Der Freischütz and at Wiener Kammeroper in Richard III., a pastiche based on Shakespeare’s play with music by Henry Purcell. In concert, she will perform Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the Orchestra Sinfónica de Navarro in Pamplona, as well as appear at Internationale Händelfestspiele Göttingen, the London Handel Festival and perform works by Mozart in New Year’s concerts with Het Residentie Orkest and Richard Egarr.

Most recently, she returned to Theater Bonn in the title role of Handel’s Agrippina and made house and role debuts as Sifare in Mozart’s Mitridate at Garsington Opera, at Opernhaus Zurich in a staged production of Monteverdi’s Vespers, conducted by Riccardo Minasi, at Opéra de Lille as Helena in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Laurent Pelly and as Seleuce/Tolomeo at Handelfestspiele Karlsruhe, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli.

Louise Kemény is a former ensemble member at Theater Bonn, where she performed roles such as Pamina/Die Zauberflöte, Gretel/Hänsel und Gretel, Sophie/Der Rosenkavalier, Susanna/Le nozze di Figaro, Romilda/Xerxes and Marzelline/Fidelio.

Elsewhere she has appeared as Tytania/A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jano/Jenufa at Scottish Opera, Barbarina/Le nozze di Figaro at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Teofane/Ottone at English Touring Opera and Poppea/Agrippina for Iford Arts. Louise Kemény has also created lead roles in new operas – Woman/Unknown Position, Girl/Bonesong (Kate Whitley) and Wife/Nauset (Joel Rust) – to critical acclaim.

Equally sought after in concert, she has worked with conductors such as Risto Joost, Peter Dijkstra, Christopher Moulds, Matthew Halls and Mark Padmore and orchestras like Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Concerto Köln, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Het Residentie Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

As a recitalist Louise Kemény has been a guest at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Wigmore Hall, MozartFest Würzburg, St John’s Smith Square in London, the Oxford Lieder Festival, Snape Maltings and, with Malcolm Martineau, at the Bath Festival. She is featured on an album of early songs by Samuel Barber, released by Resonus in 2022.

Louise Kemény is a former Britten-Pears Young Artist, Independent Opera Fellow and Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. She is the recipient of the Ian Smith of Stornoway Opera Prize, Basil A. Turner Prize, Joaninha Trust Prize and David Goldman Award.

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