Australian award-winning soprano, Cathy-Di Zhang, is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London where she completed her studies on full scholarship from 2010-2015. She graduated with a Master of Arts (Vocal Studies) - Distinction, Dip.RAM and Advanced Diploma in Opera Performance.
Cathy-Di returned to Australia in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and has since performed with most of Australia’s leading performing arts companies. This year for Opera Australia, Cathy-Di makes her double role debut as Amore/Euridice in Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice opposite French countertenor Christophe Dumaux as Orfeo, in collaboration with Circa and Sydney Festival, directed by Yaron Lifshitz and conducted by Dane Lam. She will also be back for Opera Up Late hosted by Reuben Kaye and get on the road with another role debut as Musetta in Opera Australia’s National Tour of a new production of Puccini’s La bohème, directed by Dean Bryant.
Cathy-Di is very excited to make her debut as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in February, in their Chinese New Year Concert conducted by Xu Zhong and will appear as the Soprano Soloist in Händel’s Matthew Passion with the Perth Symphonic Chorus in April, conducted by James Pratt.
Previously for Opera Australia, she has sung the roles of Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Rosina (The Barber of Seville) and Micäela (Carmen). For State Opera South Australia, she sang Mimi (La bohème) in Bohème on the Beach for over 6000 people (currently streaming on SBS on Demand) directed by Stuart Maunder. For Victorian Opera, Cathy-Di created the role of Zhu Yingtai in Richard Mills’ new opera The Butterfly Lovers directed by Ivan Heng, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award for Outstanding Performance in a Lead Role. She reprised the role in a subsequent sold-out season at Wild Rice Theatre in Singapore. For Pinchgut Opera, Cathy-Di sang the roles of L’amour/La Folie in Neil Armfield’s acclaimed production of Rameau’s Platée (available to stream on ABC iView or Pinchgut at Home), Créuse in Charpentier’s Médée in a production by Justin Way and also the roles of La Conversation/Eurilla in their Charpentier double bill Les Plaisirs des Versailles.
She has appeared in chamber music with Opera Australia at Uluru and as a soloist, she has appeared with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at Ukaria, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and gave two solo recitals at the Castlemaine Festival.
Last year, Cathy-Di appeared in the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary celebrations in a new song and music video by Tim Minchin. She is also a guest broadcaster with ABC Classic Radio for their Programme “Sunday Opera” and is a pre-concert speaker for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Pre-pandemic whilst based in Europe, Cathy-Di sang the role of Mädchen in Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in a new production by Ivo van Hove for Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Esa-Pekka Salonen and for Dutch National Opera under Markus Stenz. Other opera credits include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Massenet’s Cendrillon, Lauretta and Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and Lisa (La sonnambula).
Abroad, she has performed as a soloist with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Opéra de Liége - Wallonie, at Victoria Hall with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and with the Orchestre Symphonique d’Orléans.
Cathy-Di also performed extensively across Italy in chamber music (trio and quartet) at the Stadttheatre “Teatro Puccini” in Merano, at the Teatro E. Novelli for the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana in Rimini, at the Teatro Umberto Giordani in Foggia, at the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto and for the Interludio Festival in Pesaro.
As a young singer, Cathy-Di participated in both Georg Solti Accademia masterclasses - The Solti Peretti Repetiteurs’ Course at the Fondazione Cini in Venice, Italy and the singer’s bel canto course in Castiglione della Pescaia and then went with the Accademia to the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland. She also participated as a young artist in the Mozart Residency at Festival Aix-en-Provence in France, was part of the iSing! International Young Artists’ Festival and furthered her training on the ENO “Opera Works” Programme at English National Opera. She was also a Pacific Opera Young Artist from 2007-2009 here in her hometown of Sydney prior to studying in the UK.
She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Accounting) with Distinction from the University of New South Wales, Australia.