[ Biography]

Carmen Artaza

Mezzosoprano

The spanish mezzosoprano Carmen Artaza was awarded the Grand First Prize at the 58th edition of the Tenor Francesc Viñas International Singing Competition in 2021, where she also received the Mozart Prize, the Audience Prize and three further special awards.

In the current 2026/27 season, the mezzo-soprano makes her debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in a new production of Falstaff by G. Verdi, performing the role of Meg Page. She will also join the opera season in Tenerife, where she will sing the role of Tránsito in Tránsito, the opera of the same name by J. Torres. In addition, she will appear as part of the season at La Monnaie de Munt in Brussels in a programme devoted to Spanish music. She returns to the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, working once again with stage director C. Loy, to perform the role of La Paloma in El barberillo de Lavapiés by F. A. Barbieri. She will also perform the role of Bradamante in Orlando furioso by A. Vivaldi at the Teatro Principal de Palma.

Her concert engagements this season include performances with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (BOS), the Orquesta de Extremadura and the Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid (ORCAM), in a variety of programmes.

In the previous season, Carmen Artaza made her debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Stephano in Roméo et Juliette by Ch. Gounod. She also returned to the Opera Bonn, performing the role of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia by G. Rossini. She made her debut at the Theater Basel as La Paloma in a new production of the zarzuela El barberillo de Lavapiés by F. A. Barbieri, directed by Christof Loy, which was subsequently presented at the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo with Artaza in the cast.

Her concert engagements during the previous season included appearances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, as well as a zarzuela gala at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and a recital at the Musika-Música Festival in Bilbao.

Since her success at the Tenor Francesc Viñas International Singing Competition, Carmen Artaza has established a distinguished career on European and international stages, performing a wide range of mezzo-soprano repertoire in both opera and zarzuela. Her recent engagements include her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Teresa in La Sonnambula by V. Bellini, as well as performances of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, Falliero in Bianca e Falliero by G. Rossini at the Oper Frankfurt, and Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel by E. Humperdinck at Opera Bonn. In the zarzuela repertoire, she has performed the title role in Luisa Fernanda at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and La Paloma in El barberillo de Lavapiés, alongside other major roles including Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Bradamante in Alcina at the Staatsoper Hannover, Ino in Semele at the Komische Oper Berlin, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at Ópera de Bilbao ABAO. In January 2025, she made her debut at the Cartagena Festival in Colombia, performing a programme of zarzuela and Spanish song with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.

Her career has also taken her to venues including Les Arts in Valencia, Ópera de Tenerife, the Teatro Calderón in Valladolid, and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, where she was a member of the Opera Studio.

Carmen Artaza has performed extensively in symphonic and oratorio repertoire and is a regular guest at the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, where she has performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She has also appeared several times with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Her festival appearances include the Salzburg Festival, where she was a member of the prestigious Young Singers Project, as well as the Rheingau Festival, the AUDI Festival Ingolstadt and the ION Festival in Nuremberg.

Following the release of her song CD La mi sola, the mezzo-soprano has given recitals at numerous venues, including the lied series at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao and the Schubertiada de Valdegovía. In 2025, she made her debut at the Fundación Juan March in Madrid.

She has worked with orchestras including the Orquesta Sinfónica de las Islas Baleares, the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Comunidad de Madrid, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

In 2020, Carmen Artaza was awarded First Prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin. She was also the winner of First Prize, the Audience Prize and the Young Talent Prize at the Luis Mariano International Singing Competition in Irún.

Carmen Artaza studied with South African mezzo-soprano Michelle Breedt. She previously studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Christiane Iven and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has participated in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Teresa Berganza, Anne Sophie von Otter, Helmuth Deutsch and Christa Ludwig.