Catherine Bott

Catherine Bott ranks among the foremost sopranos based in London and has earned particular distinction through her regular participation in early-music programs. She trained under Arthur Reckless at the Guildhall School of Music. By the time she completed her studies, England’s early-music revival was rapidly expanding, and the repertoire immediately resonated with her musical instincts. Observers consistently praise the keen intelligence that marks both her readings and her stage appearances.

Among her recorded projects are Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Erato, the role of Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea issued by Deutsche Grammophon, Herodiade Figlia in Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista on Erato, Venus in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, a set of Monteverdi’s Vespers, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and a program of “mad songs” and scenes drawn from English Restoration theater, the last three releases appearing on Decca.

Festival and concert engagements have taken her before Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Layton and Polyphony, the New London Consort led by Philip Pickett, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and the American Bach Soloists. Her performed repertoire encompasses Mozart’s Requiem, Regina coeli, and Exsultate, jubilate, together with vocal selections by Handel and Vivaldi, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s B minor Mass, and Carissimi’s Historia de Jepthe.

Her schedule extends well beyond Classical and Baroque literature. In the Romantic sphere she has sung Fauré’s Requiem, Nielsen’s Third Symphony, and Mahler’s Das klagende Lied. Contemporary works she has presented include Berio’s Laborintus II, Michael Nyman’s Noises, Sounds, and Sweet Airs, Nikolai Korndorf’s Hymnus III, John Harle’s Silencium, and Michael Torke’s Four Proverbs. She also contributed to the soundtrack of the film The Emerald Forest.

Stage appearances have included the Brixen and Spitalfield’s Festivals, Kilkenny Arts Week, and the Lunchtime Concert Series at St. John’s, Smith Square. For BBC Radio 3 she has completed forty broadcast recordings.