about

bio

Klára Kolonits was born in Budapest. She graduated from Franz Liszt Academy of Music, joining the ensemble of the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen afterwards. 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 for her educational project Master Class: Let’s Build a singer!

In 2020, she received Kossuth Prize, which is the topmost acknowledgment 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.

Klára Kolonits frequently performs bel canto repertoire, among others the eponymous Norma. She sang the role in Nadine Duffaut’s production in 2018 and in Anne Delbée’s staging in Toulouse in 2019 under the baton of Giampaolo Bisanti. Her more important productions in the recent years were original version of Lucia di Lammermoor and its reprise in traditional keys with Antonello Allemandi and Les Huguenots on the stage of Hungarian State Opera, Puritani’s Elvira with Riccardo Frizza, La Traviata in Teatro Coccia in Novara and Verdi’s Attila in Nürnberg in the staging of Peter Konwitschny. In 2021 she performed the role of Amelia in the Phillip Himmelmann production of Simon Boccanegra in Rouen, under the baton of Antonello Allemandi.

The core of her repertoire are the great Italian roles:  Norma, Elvira (I Puritani), Giulietta (I Capuleti ed i Montecchi), Lucia di Lammermoor, Marguerite de Valois (A Hugenották), the triple role in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Olympia-Giulietta-Antonia), Violetta (La Traviata), Odabella  (Attila), Gilda (Rigoletto), Luisa Miller. The Hungarian bel canto is also exceptionally close to her heart, represented by the heroines of Ferenc Erkel: Melinda (Bánk Bán), Szilágyi Erzsébet (Hunyadi László), Bátori Mária, Erzsébet and Crescimira (King Stephen). The third pillar of her stage repertoire is Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna), Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi), Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess), Ascanio in Alba (Fauno) and the Magic Flute (Queen of the night).

Klára Kolonits performed in many European countries such as Italy where she sang La Traviata, France (Norma, Simon Boccanegra), Germany (Queen of the night, Odabella) Austria (Queen of the night, Traviata, Rosalinde, Countess), Czech Republic (Traviata, Les Contes d’Hoffmann triple role, Donna Anna), Slovakia (Traviata and Donna Anna), Denmark (Beatrice di Tenda, Fauno and Lucrezia Borgia) Romania (Traviata, Gilda, Luisa Miller), Croatia (Traviata and Donna Anna), Slovenia (Traviata), The Netherlands (Queen of the night) and Finland, where she performed the role of Queen of the night in Finnish language.

Important part of her career is the interpretation od immensely rich Lied/Art Song literature performed in original languages on the Liederabend concerts in Hungary and abroad.

On the concert stage she is particularly appraised for her interpretation of soprano part in Verdi’s Requiem, that she frequently performs: among others in Yekaterinburg with Dmitry Liss and in Budapest with Daniele Rustioni.

In 2009 EMI / Hunnia Records issued her Liszt Songs CD album, which has been nominated to Fonogram award. Recorded with Hungarian Studio Orchestra under the baton of Dániel Dinyés, the Bel Canto Reloaded album was issued in December 2014. It consists of gems of Bel Canto literature such as Anna Bolena’s complete mad scene, Elvira’s aria from I Puritani and fanfarous cabaletta from the first edition of Verdi’s Macbeth. Having quickly received unanimously enthusiastic reviews from the critics and the audience, it has also caused a growing interest in that particular repertoire and style.