Cathy-Di Zhang

soprano

Award-winning Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Since returning to Australia, she has established herself across the country’s major opera stages in a wide-ranging repertoire.

 For Opera Australia, she has performed Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Eurydice/Amore in Orpheus & Eurydice, Paquette in Candide, and the Spirit ‘Mercury’ in Dido & Aeneas, and has also been featured in Opera Up Late. On the company’s national tours, she appeared again as Rosina, as well as Micaëla in Carmen and Musetta in La bohème. In 2026, she joins the ensemble for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour: The Phantom of the Opera, reprises Zerlina for the national tour of Don Giovanni, and appears in Gilbert & Sullivan: A Musical Celebration.

 Cathy-Di’s work with Pinchgut Opera includes Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Amour/La Folie in Rameau’s Platée, Créuse in the Australian premiere of Charpentier’s Médée, and La Conversation/Eurilla in the Charpentier double bill Pleasures of Versailles. She created the role of Nancy in Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorized Opera for the Sydney Festival and has sung Mimì in La bohème with State Opera South Australia. For Victorian Opera, she premiered Zhu YingTai in Richard Mills’ The Butterfly Lovers, earning a Green Room Award nomination, and subsequently reprised the role in Singapore with Wild Rice Theatre. Cathy-Di returns to State Opera South Australia this season as Frasquita in Carmen.

 Earlier in her career, she appeared as Mädchen in a new production of Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Esa-Pekka Salonen, before taking the role to Dutch National Opera under Markus Stenz. Her repertoire also includes Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Lisa in La sonnambula.

 Beyond the operatic stage, Cathy-Di is active in chamber music, recital, and orchestral performance. She has performed Massenet’s Élégie for soprano, cello, and piano at the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival and has appeared throughout Italy in piano trio and quartet ensembles. She was featured in concert at UKARIA with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and has presented recitals in collaboration with State Opera South Australia. Cathy-Di’s orchestral credits include Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Perth Symphonic Chorus. She joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and to celebrate the Chinese New Year with Zheng Qiufeng’s Pamir, How Beautiful My Hometown.

She featured in Tim Minchin’s song and music video for the Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary celebrations, Play It Safe, and contributes regularly as a guest broadcaster for Saturday Night at the Opera on ABC Classic, as well as a pre-show speaker for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Representation: World

Cathy-Di’s Personal Site