Kathryn Rudge

Among Britain's most visible singers, mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge has a large repertory that includes opera, concert music, and art song. She has performed and recorded widely in music, ranging from classics to crossover works. Rudge was born in Liverpool in 1986. She attended the Junior program of the Royal Northern College of Music from 2002 to 2004 and then entered the RNCM itself, studying with Susan Roper and graduating in 2011. From 2010 to 2013, she was both an English National Opera Artist and a Young Classical Artists Trust Artist, and she was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2015 to 2017. Rudge was the recipient of many awards during her studies and at the beginning of her career, including the Bridgitte Fassbaender Award, the RPS Susan Chilcott Scholarship, and the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary. She was also featured by The Times of London as a Rising Star of Classical Music. Rudge appeared in 2012 as Cherubino in a new production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the English National Opera. Rudge made her album debut in 2014 on the MN Records label, appearing on a recording of Michael Nyman's Symphony No. 11. The following year, she moved to the Champs Hill label for her solo debut, Love's Old Sweet Song: Songs from British Composers 1823-1945. Rudge has been in demand on both operatic and concert stages. Her operatic resume includes appearances at British houses and those abroad, including Opera North, the Garsington Opera, and the Opéra de Dijon in France. As a recitalist, she has appeared at Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall, and she has been in demand at summer events, including the Brighton, City of London, and Cheltenham Festivals. Rudge's repertory includes concert works ranging from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, which she performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, to Karl Jenkins' crossover choral work The Armed Man. Rudge has recorded for a variety of labels, including Hyperion, Chandos, and Signum Classics, on which she appeared with several other singers in 2024 on the album Schumann in English, Vol. 1.
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