Cathy-Di Zhang

Award-winning Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Since returning to Australia in 2020, she has sung a number of leading roles for the nation’s major performing arts organisations.

For State Opera of South Australia, Cathy-Di sang Mimi for Bohème on the Beach in 2022.

For Opera Australia, Cathy-Di has appeared as Micaëla (Carmen), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and was a soloist for Opera Australia at Uluru and also for Opera Up Late. For Pinchgut Opera, she sang Amour/La folie in Rameau’s Platée,Créuse in Charpentier’s Médée and La Conversation/Eurilla in their Charpentier double bill Pleasures of Versailles. For Victorian Opera, she created the role of Zhu YingTai in Richard Mills’ new work The Butterfly Lovers for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award, and reprised the role in Singapore with Wild Rice Theatre.

She has appeared as a soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at Ukaria, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. Cathy-Di was featured in Tim Minchin’s new song and music video for the Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary Celebrations “Play it Safe”. Cathy-Di is also a guest broadcaster for “Saturday Night at the Opera” for ABC Classic Radio and a pre-show speaker for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to the pandemic, Cathy-Di sang the role of Mädchen in a new production of Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny by Ivo van Hove for Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her other operatic roles include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and Lisa (La sonnambula). She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout Europe and Asia and has performed regularly in chamber music across Italy in trio and quartet (with violin, cello and piano).

In 2024, Cathy-Di makes her double role debut as Amore/Euridice in Orpheus & Eurydice for Opera Australia’s Summer Season in collaboration with Circa and Sydney Festival under Dane Lam, makes her debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, appears as the soprano soloist in the St Matthew Passion at Perth Concert Hall and makes her role debut as Musetta in La bohème for Opera Australia’s National Tour in a new production by Dean Bryant.

She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Accounting) with Distinction from the University of New South Wales, Australia.