KATERIANA FENECH
SOPRANO & VOCAL COACH
'Kateriana Fenech.....is a complete and utter Stage Animal' - Adele Leigh
Kateriana Fenech began her singing journey as a mezzo-soprano, eventually leading to a career singing opera, musical theatre and contemporary repertoire from venues as varied as The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to a village pub. She is active in the field of advocacy for opera, theatre and dance education and audience development, currently supporting the Momentum project. Awards include the Ricordi Opera Prize, Doherty Recital Prize, Prior Park College Music Scholarship, Mid- Somerset Festival Singer of the Year, Forderpreis (Lower Saxony), Thames Valley Young Musician of the Year and a Britten-Pears Young Artist Scholarship.
Her professional opera début was with the Buxton Festival Opera when she sang Emma in Schubert’s opera Fierrabras opposite tenor Tom Randle. In 2000, Kateriana recorded the rôle of Marie-Curie in the UK premiere of Andriessen’s De Materie Part IV for BBC Radio 3 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Later that year, Kateriana took part in the inaugural events at the Lowry Centre, Salford singing the rôle of Papagena in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute for the Precinct Opera Group with the Salford Symphony Orchestra. The following year, Opera Omnibus invited Kateriana to sing the rôle of Suzi in a new English translation of Moniousku’s opera Verbum Nobile.
Kateriana sang Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro on tour in the UK and subsequently at the Edinburgh Festival with Palace Opera. She was invited to sing Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme for Clonter Opera, the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s fairy tale opera Hansel and Gretel with Stowe Opera, and the mezzo-soprano title rôle in a new English translation of Bizet’s opera Djamileh for Opera South. A former choral scholar, Kateriana has sung soprano chorus both in-house and on tour with Buxton Festival Opera, Mid-Wales Opera, Opera North, Raymond Gubbay Productions and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
No stranger to the concert platform, Kateriana is an experienced concert soloist in both secular and sacred repertoire. Notable appearances include Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, (Bridgewater Hall), Vier letze Lieder by Strauss, (Northern Chamber Orchestra), Proms Spectacular, (The Lowry), Britten's Les Illuminations, (Siemens Theatre), The Creation by Haydn (Blackburn Cathedral), Handel’s Messiah, (The Great Hall Manchester), Mozart’s Requiem (St Alban's Cathedral) and notably Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Sir David Willcocks.
In addition to standard Chanson, Lied and English song, Kateriana enjoys including work from contemporary musical theatre and the beloved Great American Songbook repertoire in Recitals, Galas and Private events.
Kateriana was born in Berkshire, surrounded by a family of opera lovers in the UK and Malta. She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music, (BMus Hons), where she studied with Ava June & Sandra Dugdale. She was invited to stay on at the RNCM, graduating with a Professional Performance Diploma (PPRNCM) from the school of Opera Studies as a Sir Peter Moores Scholarship recipient.