Idamante: Idomeneo / Victorian Opera 2023
“Catherine Carby’s expressive mezzo and natural manner neatly convey Idamante’s varied emotional states.”
Limelight
“Catherine Carby, as Idamante, was the ideal foil to Idomeneo and thoroughly looked the part.”
Opera
Waltraute: Götterdämmerung, Longborough Festival Opera 2023
“Catherine Carby is a strong, touching Waltraute in her unavailing assault on Brünnhilde’s family loyalties.”
The Arts Desk
“…Catherine Carby touchingly evoking Wotan’s sad state.”
Bachtrack
“Plaudits to Catherine Carby as Waltraute…”
i-News
“Catherine Carby is notably persuasive as Waltraute, showing all the courage and desperation of one who is being thwarted in her attempts to avoid, as far as she is concerned, the most disastrous of outcomes.”
Music OMH
“…a very fine Catherine Carby.”
Opera
“…an impressive performance from Catherine Carby…”
Opera Today
“One of the high points of this Götterdämmerung was when Catherine Carby with her expressive mezzo-soprano sang a magisterial ‘Waltraute’s Narration’ which was riveting and scaled the dramatic heights.”
Seen and Heard International
“Catherine Carby is a commanding Waltraute.”
The Stage
“…confrontations are compellingly done, especially Brünnhilde with Waltraute, the powerful Catherine Carby…”
The Telegraph
Verdi (arr. Blackford): Requiem / Nimbus CD
“The mezzo Catherine Carby is the most appealing of the quartet of soloists…”
BBC Music Magazine
Lucejo: Scipione / Early Opera Company 2023
“Catherine Carby took the ‘Senesino role’ of Lucejo, singing with lyrical intensity and a surprisingly ‘masculine’ meatiness at times, tonally rich across the registers, and with a lovely glossiness at the top. Carby captured the impetuous temperament of the proud Spanish prince whose emotions frequently get the better of him. Lucejo’s Act 1 jealousy aria revealed not only the fierceness of his anguish but also his inner conflicts, while his second Act 2 aria was a musical and dramatic highpoint in which the contrasting strains potently communicated his fluctuating feelings and intentions.”
Opera Today
Médée / Pinchgut Opera 2022
“As the Princess of Colchis, Carby thoroughly inhabits the role of Médée, calibrating her performance with incisiveness and imparting affecting nuance to her character’s psychological development. In particular, Act 3’s Quel prix de mon amour (What a price for my love) creates a central highlight as a formidable example of voice and heart attuned to soul-bearing anguish. Carby utilises her richly textured mezzo-soprano to great effect as the love she tries to hold onto is crushed by a revenge her sorcery can aid.”
Arts Review
“Catherine Carby gives a towering performance in the title role. From her first aria “Qu’il cherche”, she harnesses her rich, true mezzo-soprano to the portrayal of a woman who knows her own strength and is never to be trifled with.”
Australian Stage
“Catherine Carby turned in a gutsy, dominating performance in the title role, with a strong resonant and well-balanced mezzo.”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby portrays well the inner turmoil of the character with a silky mezzo-soprano voice that soars over the tricky waves of Charpentier’s phrases and offers a variety of tonal qualities to express the emotional states of Médée’s complex character. Her touching rendition moves the audience with pity.”
The Conversation
“…a flawless performance that thrilled alone and in duet.”
Limelight
“Catherine Carby was in glowing voice and deeply, sensitively attuned to Médée’s inexorable path from painful distress toutter torment and the annihilation of all around her…Carby’s shining intelligence put her in command of each twist and turn, essentially summed up in the transfixing central aria ‘Quel prix de mon amour.’”
Opera
“Catherine Carby is perfectly cast for such a meaty role, fearlessly spanning the full gamut of emotions from distraught and vulnerable at the discovery of her wayward lover progressing through to snarling, wrathful sorceress staggering on the brink of insanity.”
Sydney Arts Guide
“Pinchgut Opera’s production is a tour-de-force for Catherine Carby, who navigates its range with a sound that is always musically mellifluous and shaped, whether in moments of exquisitely rounded softness or sharp-edged ferocity.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Katharina Schratt: Mayerling / The Royal Ballet 2022
“…there’s a lovely cameo from Catherine Carby as Katharina Schratt.”
Bachtrack
“…Katharina Schratt, beautifully sung by Catherine Carby.”
Dance For You
Mauxalinda: The Dragon of Wantley / Resonus Classics CD 2022
“…absolutely ideal.”
Gramophone
Mauxalinda: The Dragon of Wantley / Resonus Classics 2022
“…the subtle articulaton and rich timbres of mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby…”
BBC Music Magazine
Dvorak: Requiem / Three Choirs Festival 202
“Catherine Carby’s declamatory delivery shone in the surprisingly lyrical Tuba mirum…”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby brought stature and presence to the opening of Tuba mirum…”
ReviewsGate
Malcolm: La donna del lago / Buxton International Festival 2022
“Catherine Carby was outstanding in the trouser role of Malcom. She showed spectacular agility and control in her two arias.”
Bachtrack
“Malcom has two big moments, his bravura entrance aria and then the more poignant one in Act Two when things seem lost. Catherine Carby can swagger with the best of them, her Act One entrance was both virtuosic and full of warmth. And in Act Two she had the knack of pulling the heartstrings whilst singing astonishing roulades.”
Opera Today
“Catherine Carby sings Malcom, the Australian mezzo’s fluent vocal athleticism again proving a huge asset as Elena’s true love: a doughty warrior, yet another royal adversary, and of the three suitors the one who eventually gets the girl.”
The Stage
“The big set-piece solos are all impressive, especially Malcom’s Ah si pera, which Catherine Carby negotiates splendidly…”
The Telegraph
“Catherine Carby relished the challenges of the role of Malcolm.”
The Times
Ferrandini: Il pianto di Maria / English Touring Opera Digital Platform 2022
“Carby’s mezzo is powerfully focused, lustrously coloured, rich and warm.”
Opera Today
Sara: Roberto Devereux / Chelsea Opera Group 2021
“Catherine Carby was an extremely accomplished Sara, Duchessa di Nottingham with the sumptuousness in her voice being complemented by absolute precision in phrasing…”
Music OMH
“Catherine Carby made a spirited foil of Sara, Elisabetta’s suspected rival in love…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby’s lovely warm mezzo helped to create sympathy for Sara, especially in the gentle, thoughtful romance with which she opens the opera, but she demonstrated impassioned strength too, not least in her urgent duet with her husband, where her rising lines shone with almost desperate fervour.”
Opera Today
“Catherine Carby brought a wonderful poise and sense of style to the music whilst all the time giving you a feeling of Sara’s underlying strength of character. Carby made Sara interesting; moving in her opening romance and then terrific in the duets with Roberto and with Nottingham.”
Planet Hugill
“Catherine Carby conveyed the sincerity and anguish of Duchess Sara with passion and psychological credibility…”
Plays To See
“Catherine Carby was poised and moving in her plight as Sara, Duchess of Nottingham, her voice always expressive…”
The Times
Prue: The Dancing Master / Buxton International Festival
“Catherine Carby (Prue), Fiona Kimm (Miranda’s aunt) and Mark Wilde (Monsieur) are all experienced actor-singers who bring distinction as well as humour to their performances.”
The Arts Desk
“Catherine Carby provides one of the highlights, as she describes to the decidedly slow-on-the-uptake Monsieur her dream of a man stealing into her bed.”
British Theatre Guide
“Catherine Carby was enjoyably acerbic as the maid Prue.”
The Guardian
“Catherine Carby gives a satisfyingly complete performance as Prue, the ladies’ maid.”
The Telegraph
Prue: The Dancing Master / Resonus Classics
“Catherine Carby as the maid Prue, Fiona Kimm as a domineering aunt and Graeme Broadbent as the patriarch Diego enthusiastically deliver the requisite sensuality, bluster and bombast; and far more expressively and beautifully than these essentially comic roles strictly demand.”
Gramophone
“A lively cast – Eleanor Dennis, Catherine Carby, Fiona Kimm, Ed Lyon, Mark Wilde, Graeme Broadbent – enunciate every word crisply.”
The Guardian
“Prue is taken by a vivacious Catherine Carby and the voice of steadfast reserve, Mrs Caution, by Fiona Kimm. Both have time and space to mark their considerable marks.”
MusicWeb International
“Best of all is Australian mezzo Catherine Carby as Prue…”
“Eleanor Dennis, Catherine Carby and Ed Lyon are pleasing in youthful parts…”
The Sunday Times
“Catherine Carby, Fiona Kimm, Mark Wilde and Graeme Broadbent have great fun in supporting roles.”
The Telegraph
Balfe: Satanella / Naxos CD
“Catherine Carby makes a warmly expressive Lelia.”
Gramophone
“Catherine Carby’s Lelia is pristinely pure, appropriately sweet and sincere.”
Opera
“Catherine Carby’s sparky high mezzo illuminates Lelia.”
Opera News
Countess Geschwitz: Lulu / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby’s Geschwitz was an imposing, strikingly attractive and wonderfully well-sung characterization…”
Opera News
Romeo: I Capuleti e i Montecchi / Chelsea Opera Group
“The casting was exemplary. Catherine Carby’s Romeo and Ana Maria Labin’s Giulietta voiced their doomed passions with sumptuous tone, immaculate technique and formidable intensity.”
The Guardian
“Romeo was sung by the Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby who made a passionate and highly involved Romeo. Her opening aria, where Romeo faces the rival faction, was wonderfully defiant with Carby displaying a lovely smooth, evenly produced voice with a nice facility for the passagework. Her performance has a creamy, seductive quality which leant a special quality to her duets with Ana Maria Labin’s Giulietta… Carby’s final scene was finely expressive as well as being beautifully sung. Throughout, she showed great sympathy with the bel canto style… Carby was finely passionate, beautifully fluid with a lovely sense of line, and produced some highly imaginative ornamentation for the arias.”
Planet Hugill
Romeo: I Capuleti e i Montecchi / Chelsea Opera Group
“The casting was exemplary. Catherine Carby’s Romeo and Ana Maria Labin’s Giulietta voiced their doomed passions with sumptuous tone, immaculate technique and formidable intensity.”
The Guardian
“The Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby was a superb Romeo. Her wonderfully smooth and even voice – especially impressive at the bottom – conveyed youthful valour in her public stand-offs with the Guelphs, and sincere, passionate devotion in the intimate encounters with Ana Maria Labin’s Giulietta.”
Opera
“Romeo was sung by the Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby who made a passionate and highly involved Romeo. Her opening aria, where Romeo faces the rival faction, was wonderfully defiant with Carby displaying a lovely smooth, evenly produced voice with a nice facility for the passagework. Her performance has a creamy, seductive quality which leant a special quality to her duets with Ana Maria Labin’s Giulietta… Carby’s final scene was finely expressive as well as being beautifully sung. Throughout, she showed great sympathy with the bel canto style… Carby was finely passionate, beautifully fluid with a lovely sense of line, and produced some highly imaginative ornamentation for the arias.”
Planet Hugill
Diana: La Calisto / English Touring Opera
“Catherine Carby’s poised mezzo dominated as the hunting goddess; with a rich velvety texture and a natural power, she gave a memorable vocal display.”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby’s beautifully sung Diana.”
Classical Source
“Carby sounds ravishing.”
The Guardian
“Catherine Carby’s sound as Diana is ravishing from top to bottom of her register.”
The Independent
“Catherine Carby’s eloquently and expansively sung Diana…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby’s warmly sung Diana…”
The Spectator
Aurelio: L’Assiedo di Calais / English Touring Opera
“sung here by mezzo Catherine Carby and soprano Paula Sides, who achieved that magical soaring of blended voices that keeps you coming back to bel canto.”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby was at ease with the intricacies of bel canto demands and her acting was eloquently emotional throughout.”
Classical Source
“…Catherine Carby’s vivid and stylish bel canto in the trouser role of Aurelio…”
Opera
“The trouser-role of Aurelio was magnificently performed by mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby. She made an exceptional impact across a wide range, leaping athletically between registers, and her low voice was stirring and firm, of penetrating richness. Donizetti’s score is, for once, virtuosity-lite, but in its more florid passages Carby used the flamboyant gestures to make a striking dramatic impression: Aurelio’s account of his terrifying dream was especially moving.”
Opera Today
“…made a fine Aurelio with some spectacular bravura moments. She has a voice with which she was able to exploit the role’s wide range, with some strong low notes as well as a finely free dramatic top with the whole linked beautifully. She used Donizetti’s fiortiture dramatically rather than for its own sake. She was also dramatically believable as a young man so that no suspension of disbelief was required.”
Planet Hugill
“As Aurelio (a trouser role), mezzo Catherine Carby excels in her/his vocal strength and delivers one of the winning characterisations of the evening. The brief aria “Giammai del forte ardir non langue”, with its large-interval jumps and pyrotechnics (it soon blossoms into an ensemble) was taken with seeming ease. Aurelio’s dramatic duet with Eleanora, his wife, was terrific.”
Seen and Heard International
“At the production’s heart is a performance as the tragic Aurelio that ranks among the year’s high points to date. Catherine Carby sings, loves and suffers with such conviction that it’s impossible not to be moved by her, nor to revel in her rich timbre…”
What’s On Stage
Rodrigo: Pia de’Tolomei / English Touring Opera
“Catherine Carby is truly affecting in the trouser role of Rodrigo, her honeyed mezzo an absolute luxury in Rodrigo’s tragic imprisonment aria.”
Bachtrack
“The most voluptuous singing of all came from Catherine Carby…”
Critics Circle
“Catherine Carby’s proudly lyrical Rodrigo…”
The Guardian
“I enjoyed Catherine Carby, strong and noble in the trousers role.”
The Times
Nikona: Siberia / Festival de Radio France Montpellier Occitanie
“Amongst a fine supporting cast, the Nikona of Catherine Carby stood out…”
ConcertoNet
Iphigénie: Iphigénie en Tauride / English Touring Opera
“Catherine Carby knows exactly what to do to express Iphigenia’s pain and dignity, using the French language to heighten the plangency.”
The Arts Desk
“Gluck’s real achievement is to turn his mythological characters into red-blooded humans, and Catherine Carby was so compassionate, so proud, and sang with such radiant tone that you wondered why Iphigenia isn’t known as one of the great career-defining operatic heroines.”
Birmingham Post
“In the title role the Australian mezzo Catherine Carby was completely in charge of Iphigénie’s suffering nobility and her ‘O malheureuse Iphigénie’ got to the heart of her tragedy and drew the audience into it.”
Classical Source
Catherine Carby made an imposing contribution in the title role with her beautiful timbre.”
Critics Circle
“Catherine Carby manages real nobility as Iphigenia, singing with rich tone.”
The Financial Times
“Catherine Carby superbly registers Iphigénie’s fear of Craig Smith’s thuggish, xenophobic Thoas, and heart-rendingly delineates her growing empathy for the stranger she must kill, unaware that he is, in fact, her brother…Carby sounds extraordinarily beautiful as her voice cleaves through Gluck’s soaring lines.”
The Guardian
“If you want to hear world-class singing, that’s what you’ll get from mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby in the title role. Carby sails through her hugely demanding role with seemingly effortless grace.”
The Independent
“Catherine Carby offers a towering powering as the troubled Iphigénie.”
The Mail on Sunday
“Catherine Carby sang beautifully with fine French diction, her voice and portrayal bringing out the agony of her position.”
Mark Ronan Theatre Reviews
“Self control was the watchword for Catherine Carby’s Iphigénie; her dignified yet compassionate demeanour, her translucent tone (with its discreet throb), and the cleanliness of her line and French diction seemed wholly within the spirit of Gluck, and she was all the more moving for that.”
Opera
“Catherine Carby is a totally convincing Iphigénie.”
Opera Now
“Catherine Carby made an elegant and stylish Iphigénie.”
Planet Hugill
“Catherine Carby gave a heartfelt performance as Iphigénie: how could one not deeply sympathise with her plight?”
Seen and Heard International
“With her singing of Iphigénie’s great solos, she clearly has the measure of this role, and those lucky enough to see her will surely come away both moved by her dilemma and edified.”
The Sunday Times
“Carby carries the energy of the opera, her dark, tense voice most plangent in Iphigénie’s Act III aria, D’une image, hélas, trop chérie.”
The Times
“Carby, one of our finest mezzo-sopranos, is locked into her upper vocal register for much of the evening, but she turns the taxing tessitura to her advantage in a performance that reeks of wracked vulnerability.”
What’s On Stage
Orpheus: Orpheus and Eurydice / English National Opera
“The star of the evening was actually not intended: The mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby in the role of Orpheus jumped in that afternoon for an indisposed colleague – and mastered the challenge brilliantly and confidently. Her voice was warm, flexible and powerful. And the audience saluted her achievement with warm applause.”
Klassik begeistert
Auntie: Peter Grimes / Opera Australia
“There were so many clearly defined performances, each one adding individual colour and texture to the mosaic: Catherine Carby’s firm, capable, youthful Auntie…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby is a delightfully dubious Auntie, the glint in her eye belying a warmth and sad wisdom which shows itself in the women’s quartet.”
The Opera Critic
Ruggiero: Alcina / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby showed vocal dash and she caught the right nobility of tone as Ruggiero overcomes bewilderment in the name of a higher love.”
The Age
Cornelia: Giulio Cesare / English Touring Opera
“Carby bears the anguish of Cornelia with expressive nobility…”
Classical Source
“Catherine Carby sang eloquently as Cornelia…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby’s Cornelia was more complex and simply not as nice or as sympathetic as some performances. Yes, she was grieving and very much on her dignity, but she was absorbed in her grief, focussed on this to the detriment of her relationship with Kitty Whately’s Sesto. Carby sang with a nice sense of focussed intensity, and lovely warm line, eliciting much sympathy.”
Planet Hugill
“Catherine Carby delineates the proud grief of Pompey’s widow, Cornelia…”
The Stage
“Catherine Carby makes a dignified Cornelia…”
The Telegraph
“…beautifully drawn out by Catherine Carby…”
The Times
Cornelia: Giulio Cesare / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby carried off the much put upon Roman part of Cornelia with the requisite stately misery.”
The Opera Critic
Arsace: Partenope / Opera Australia
“In the thankless role of Arscae, warm-toned mezzo Catherine Carby’s sinuous phrasing realised the character’s hangdop unhappiness.”
The Australian
Ino & Juno: Semele / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
“…with Catherine Carby’s Ino / Juno warmly sung…”
The Spectator
“…the convincing Catherine Carby.”
The Times
Minerva: The Royal Opera, London
“Catherine Carby, excellent…”
The Arts Desk
“Catherine Carby’s formidable Minerva and Samuel Boden’s sweet-toned Telemachus careering round the stage on a tandem while singing divinely.”
The Independent
“The rest of the cast was excellent, with stand-out performances from Samuel Boden (a convincingly traumatised Telemachus) and Catherine Carby (bringing a Wagnerian touch to Minerva)…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby was a magnificent Minerva…”
Seen and Heard International
“Catherine Carby sang powerfully as a commanding, breast-plated Minerva.”
The Sunday Times
“The Royal Opera regularly gets called out for overlooking homegrown talent, but The Return of Ulysses is a showcase for some of Britain’s finest. Susan Bickley, Mark Milhofer and Andrew Tortise sang impeccably and acted their socks off, as did Catherine Carby as Minerva, the armoured goddess whose gilded costume puts the breast into breastplate.”
WhatsOnStage
Penelope: Il ritorno d’Ulisse / Pinchgut Opera
“Her supple line and nuanced range of dark-hued tone colours create an intensely affecting portrayal of her virtuous, long-suffering character. ”
The Australian
“Fernando Guimarães is magnificent as Ulysses. He and Catherine Carby were the singers most perfectly used with their roles. Not a single note they sang sounded in any way external to the drama of their changing situations. Both roles are demanding, Ulysses’ for its variety, Penelope’s for its austerity, and their performances were consummate.”
Australian Stage
“Catherine Carby’s Penelope proves just as powerful a portrayal, the lonely and precarious conditions of her daily life made vivid. Her opening lament Di misera regina was rivetingly done, demonstrating an ease with declamation and an elegant sense of line. Avoiding the usual anguish for a deeper sense of sorrow, the mezzo made this moment all the more affecting, as she did in her closing duet with (Fernando) Guimarães which was suffused with a sombre joy. An intelligent characterisation full of telling details, Carby sang with radiant pathos throughout.”
Limelight
“…she must express a dignified constancy, sorrow sadness and indifference throughout two hours of music. This however, she carried off superbly, her voice rich, smooth and secure with perfect tuning throughout. “
Performing Arts Hub
“Catherine Carby creates an aptly over-tragic persona as Penelope, with a rich dark sound. From the opening Prologue as Fragile Humanity to the final reunification, woe becomes her magnificently.
Sydney Morning Herald
Sesto: La clemenza di Tito / National Opera, Canberra
“Catherine Carby as Sesto, the friend who tries to murder Tito, also gives a performance to savour, the highlight of which is also her second act contrition aria, Deh, per questo istante solo, in which her famous lustrous mezzo and mastery of phrasing is on full display.”
Australian Arts Review
“…wonderfully played and sung.”
City News
“Carby convinced in portraying Sesto’s unrequited love for Vitellia while being putty in her hands, her Act 1 Parto, parto, ma tu, ben mio an especially throttling display of heartfelt emotion in agreeing to murder Tito.”
Limelight
“Sesto was the versatile and experienced Catherine Carby, who stole the show with her beautiful voice and superb acting skills.”
Opera
Kristina: The Makropulos Case / Opera Australia
“Mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby is a delight as aspiring opera singer and Marty acolyte Kristina, a soprano role, but well suited to Carby’s light, silky voice, which has never sounded better,”
The Opera Critic
Donna Elvira: Don Giovanni / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby’s richly coloured singing and passionate acting made for a fiery, feisty Donna Elvira, tormented by her conflicting emotions towards Giovanni.”
The Australian
“Catherine Carby’s Elvira was ballsy and vivid.”
Opera
“…her staggering ‘Mi tradiì” is possibly the production’s finest moment.”
The Opera Critic
“Catherine Carby’s Donna Elvira was the work’s most interesting character in her comic, self-humiliating obsession with Giovanni, and she rose to the challenge with humour and poignancy. Her beautifully phrased and coloured Act 11 aria, Mi tradì, was a musico-dramatic turning.”
Sydney Morning Herald
Ramiro: La finta giardiniera / Buxton Festival Opera
“Top quality standards, too, are to be found among the seven principals…Catherine Carby, Arminda’s sporty admirer Ramiro…”
The Guardian
“Catherine Carby was nicely believable en travesti as Ramiro…”
Planet Hugill
Niklausse: Les contes d’Hoffmann / West Australian Opera
“Catherine Carby (Nicklausse) and Adrian McEniery (the four character tenors) made welcome debuts with WA Opera.”
Opera
“Catherine Carby as the Muse / Niklausse is an attractive and subtle dramatic foil to Hoffmann.”
The West Australian
Spirit of Antonia’s Mother: Les contes d’Hoffmann / Royal Opera, London
“…the excellent Catherine Carby as the voice of Antonia’s mother.”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby made a fine appearance in the brief role of Antonia’s mother’s spirit…”
Mark Ronan Theatre Reviews
“Catherine Carby made the most of her few moments as the Spirit of Antonia’s Mother.”
Seen and Heard International
Rossini: Fireworks! / English Touring Opera
“…brought superb technical control to Malcolm’s aria ‘Mura felice’ from La donna del lago, starting off in a sober manner, and then dazzling with the fast passage-work which concludes the aria. Throughout the evening, Carby brought a lovely down to earth feel to her amazing vocal dexterity, coping with spectacular wide ranging parts and singing with great charm. This was virtuosity at the highest level.”
Planet Hugill
Smeraldina: The Love For Three Oranges / Opera Australia
“As a foil, Catherine Carby does the sour-faced usurper’s role of Smeraldina redoubtably…”
Sydney Morning Herald
Suzuki: Madama Butterly / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby’s presence as Suzuki seems like luxury casting, but in fact she’s precisely as luxurious as the role itself demands. Suzuki is commonly cited as the archetypal Thankless Mezzo Role, but while she mightn’t have a great deal to sing, her presence is nevertheless vital. Carby fills this role with delicate sincerity, and when she does sing, her shimmering mezzo is a delight, lighter than might be expected in the role, but surprisingly powerful.”
The Opera Critic
Voice from Above: Die Frau ohne Schatten / Royal Opera, London
“…Catherine Carby’s serenely eloquent Voice from Above…”
Classical Source
“Catherine Carby delivered a serene Voice from Avove…”
Opera
Octavian: Der Rosenkavalier / Opera Australia
“Catherine Carby was an urgent, believable Octavian…”
Opera
“Catherine Carby’s trim, silvery voice and lively stage presence equip her well for Octavian: she sings with clarity, refinement and unflagging energy.”
The Opera Critic
Girls’ Night Out (A Celebration of the Music of Richard Strauss) / State Opera South Australia
“…her performances thrilled, alone and in duet.”
Limelight
Baba the Turk: The Rake’s Progress / Opera Australia
“…Catherine Carby in the bizarre role of Baba the Turk does a nice turn as an oddity made respectable by celebrity.“
The Age
“In the rather more sympathetic role of Baba the Turk, mezzo Catherine Carby managed to bring quite a touch of glamour to the part of the bearded lady.“
The Opera Critic
“…Catherine Carby (Baba) was as delightful a bearded lady as you are likely to meet…”
Sydney Morning Herald
Tavener: Supernatural Songs / City of London Sindonia
“Catherine Carby sang Supernatural Songs with confidence and a voice of impressive fullness, lending real sensuality to verses seeing spiritual aspects in sexual ecstasy.”
The Argus
“There was a seductive and surprising vitality in Tavener’s Supernatural Songs, sung with intelligence, authority and grave expressivity by the mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby.”
The Times
Fenena: Nabucco / Opera Australia
“Fenena (Catherine Carby), the daughter of Nabucco, has a rich dark mezzo that gives the character a defining nobility…the best singing comes in the second half of the work when the lovely non-grandiose moments, like Carby’s prayer, as she accepts death, are a relief from the almost uninterrupted force of the music, driven at an energetic pace by conductor Andrea Licata and a dazzling Orchestra Victoria.”
The Age
“Among the soloists the standouts were: Catherine Carby as the sweet Fenena with a pure, gloriously focused sound…”
Sydney Morning Herald
Annina: La traviata / Royal Opera, London
“…Catherine Carby a wonderful Annina.”
Bachtrack
“Catherine Carby was an excellent Annina.”
Seen and Heard International
Brangäne: Tristan und Isolde / Longborough Festival Opera
“Catherine Carby a strong, sisterly Brangäne, spinning a marvellous line from her watchtower…”
The Arts Desk
“…Catherine Carby, an urgently impressive Brangäne.”
The Guardian
“…excellent in support.”
The Observer
“Catherine Carby, as Brangäne, was ideal in her Act 11 off-stage warnings…”
Opera Now
“Brangäne’s warnings were gloriously voiced by Catherine Carby.”
The Spectator
“…Catherine Carby’s warm-toned Brangäne…”
The Sunday Times
“…Catherine Carby, an engaging, eloquent Brangäne…”
The Times
“Catherine Carby’s emotional and committed passion, her love for Isolde, and her horror of the consequences of her actions brought her to prominence in all her scenes. With a voice to match the emotional rollercoaster, Carby enjoyed a notable success.”
Wagner News
“…Catherine Carby, a powerful Brangäne, vocally luminous in her offstage warning to the lovers…”
What’s On Stage
Emilia: Otello / Royal Opera, London
“Freddie de Tommaso’s Cassio and Catherine Carby’s Emilia are vividly imagined creations…”
The Independent
“Catherine Carby, excellent as always…”
Opera
“…the secondary roles are expertly realised, with Freddie de Tommaso’s forthright Cassio and Catherine Carby’s concerned Emilia both memorable.”
The Stage
