The Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi with her “deeper, dark” (Jenny Camilleri/ Bachtrack) voice is one of the most up-and-coming singers in her repertoire and leads critics to predict that she “will be the Verdi mezzo of the next years” (Maximilian Maier / BR Klassik).
Judit Kutasi was born in Timisoara, Romania. She studied voice, piano and cello at the Colegiul Național de Artă “Ion Vidu” and continued her studies at the University of Oradea and the Music Academy Gheorghe Dima in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, graduating with a master’s degree.
In the 2023/24 season, Kutasi is poised to make several major debuts: she sees her first performances in the United States as Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin with at the San Francisco Opera, and celebrates her Metropolitan Opera debut as Preziosilla in the new production of La forza del destino under Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She makes her house debut at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen with Verdi’s Requiem led by Bertrand de Billy, and appears for the first time with the Salzburg Easter Festival performing the same masterpiece under the baton of Maestro Antonio Pappano. Verdi’s Requiem also brings her to St. Louis, where she sings it with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Stéphane Denève. Additionally, she returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she reprises the role of Laura in La Gioconda; performs Amneris in Aïda, one of her signature roles, at the Hungarian State Opera; and sings the role of Erda in a concert performance of Wagner’s Siegfried at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Last season, Kutasi sang Azucena in Il trovatore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and at the Opéra National de Paris. She made a last-minute jump-in as Amneris in a new production of Aïda at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and reprised the role for Opera de Las Palmas. She was also heard as Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff at the Staatsoper Hamburg. On the concert stage, Judit Kutasi performed Stravinsky's Les noces conducted by Kent Nagano at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and appeared in concerts at the Staatstheater Hannover, performing Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah”.
