awards
2022
Lifetime Member of the Immortals’ Troupe
2020
Kossuth Prize
2018
Hungarian Academy of Arts Scholarship
Kammersängerin of the Hungarian State Opera
2016
Vastaps Special Prize for Fiordiligi, Katona József Színház
Award of Excellence for Violetta, City of Debrecen
Székely Mihály Memorial Medal
Ágai Karola and Szendrey-Karper László Memorial Medal
2013
Kammersängerin of the Hungarian State Opera
2011
Fonogram Prize Nomination (Liszt Songs CD)
2010
Liszt Prize
2005
Artisjus Prize
2003
Special Prize and 2nd place International Haydn Singing Competition
2000
1st place and Special Prize Hungarian Radio Singing Competition
1997
Special Prize Toti dal Monte singing competition, Treviso
2nd place, III. Budapest International Singing Competition
bio
Klára Kolonits (dramatic coloratura soprano)
Klára Kolonits was born in Budapest. She graduated from Franz Liszt Academy of Music. After having won a series of prizes in major music competitions she has been engaged by the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest in 2002, remaining its soloist since then.
In 2010 she has been awarded with a prestigious Liszt Prize. In 2013 and again in 2018 she received the title of Kammersängerin of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest. Also in 2018 she received Hungarian Academy of Arts Scholarship, her winning project focusing on vocal pedagogy and psychology. She keeps pursuing the topic since then: she is currently working on her Mental Trainer master degree at the Hungarian University of Sport and Sport Sciences.
In 2020, she received Kossuth Prize, which is the topmost acknowledgement by the Hungarian State for work in the field of Hungarian culture, for her exceptionally virtuoso singing technique, splendid bel canto repertoire, highest artistic quality presented both in Hungary and abroad.
The core of her stage repertoire consists of bel canto operas: Bellini’s eponymous Norma (productions of Nadine Duffaut, Anne Delbée and Francesco Torrigiani), I Puritani (Elvira) with Riccardo Frizza, Beatrice di Tenda, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (Giulietta), Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Lucia di Lammermoor (in original and traditional versions, the latter conducted by Antonello Allemandi) and Lucrezia Borgia.
She is particularly fond of Hungarian bel canto, the operas of Ferenc Erkel: Bánk Bán (Melinda), Hunyadi László (Erzsébet Szilágyi), Bátori Mária and Erzsébet. French opera literature is equally important part of her repertoire, including the triple role of Les Contes d’ Hoffmann and Marguerite de Valois (Les Huguenots).
Her Verdian repertoire includes Violetta (La Traviata), Odabella (Konwitschny’s production of Attila in Nuremberg), Gilda (Rigoletto), Gulnara (Il Corsaro), Luisa Miller and Maria-Amelia (Simon Boccanegra in Rouen, directed by Phillip Himmelmann, conducted by Antonello Allemandi).
The third pillar of her stage repertoire is Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna in Austria and Croatia, Donna Elvira), Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi), Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess), Ascanio in Alba (Fauno) and the Magic Flute (Queen of the night in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Savonlinna Festival, where she sang the role in Finnish)
In 2024/2025 season, she further enrichens her repertoire with three new roles: Verdi’s Desdemona (Otello), Adams’ Pat Nixon (Nixon in China), and Imogene in Bellini’s Il Pirata.
On the concert stage she is particularly appraised for her interpretation of soprano part in Verdi’s Requiem. Important part of her career is the interpretation of immensely rich Lied/Art Song literature.
In 2009 EMI issued her Liszt Songs CD album, which has been nominated to Fonogram award.
Her Bel Canto Reloaded album was issued in December 2014.
In 2023 she recorded a new album featuring the most important Erkel scenes, as well as Grieg and Brahms songs with chamber ensemble.
In between her opera engagements, Klára Kolonits is an avid gardener and rosarian, tending to nearly 300 roses in her gardens near Budapest.